A HISTORY OF BUCKINGHAMSHIRE 



Bucks Oxfordshire Berkshire Middlesex Herts Beds Northants 



Native plants . 845 . 844 . 903 . 770 . 795 . 762 . 765 

 Denizens and 



Colonists 97 96 107 97 . 95 . 85 85 



Total . 942 940 1,010 867 890 847 850 



Besides these above named varieties, many hybrids and over 1 20 

 species not natives or of casual occurrence, or planted in the county, 

 have been observed. 



If the London Catalogue of British plants be adopted as the standard 

 of specific limitations we may say that the total number of British 

 species is now about 2,000, but of these nearly 250 are not native species, 

 144 are confined to the neighbourhood of the sea, while at least 200 are 

 a species either of northern latitudes, or are not found so far south as 

 Buckinghamshire, except in mountainous situations ; 17 are confined to 

 Ireland, about 20 to the Channel Isles, and a few are extinct. 



After making these deductions about 1,350 species remain which 

 might occur in the county, but such is not found to be the case ; for 

 although our knowledge of the county flora is incomplete, yet it is not 

 to be expected that more than 50 species will be added to the list here 

 given, however painstaking may be the work. As compared with the 

 bordering counties, however, Buckinghamshire is richer in species than 

 almost any except Berkshire. 



The paucity of lacustrine species is one of the features which 

 characterize the botany of the county, and this is accounted for by the 

 large extent of country occupied by the Cretaceous beds and the absence of 

 large sheets of water such as the Norfolk broads or Salopian meres and 

 the marshy vegetation which surrounds them, but the chalk, limestone, 

 and heath plants are fairly well represented. The three most inter- 

 esting species are probably the pig-nut (Carum Eulboc astanuni) , which is 

 limited to Bucks, Herts, Beds and Cambridgeshire ; the military orchis 

 (Orchis militaris), limited to Berks, Oxford, Herts and Middlesex, and the 

 box (Buxus sempervirens) , which is so well established in two places on 

 the Chilterns, and by some authors is even considered to be native. The 

 other characteristic species are the coral-root (Cardamine bulbifera), so 

 common in several woods on the chalk ; and the beech (Fagus sy/vatica), 

 which is the principal tree over a large area of the Cretaceous measures 

 and is of considerable economic value. 



A few other species are rather common in Buckinghamshire but are 

 local or rare in many British counties. Amongst these are the calamint 

 (Calamintha Nepeta or parviftora) , the large burnet-saxifrage (Pimpinella 

 major], and the candytuft (Iberis amara). The woods of the north have 

 the grass Calamagrostis epigeios, the commons have the dwarf gorse (U/ex 

 minor), and in the south the silver cinquefoil (Potentilla argentea) is not 

 uncommon. 



A short sketch of the geology is first given with especial reference 

 to the influence the various strata have upon the botanical features of the 



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