BOTANY 



maritime affinities. The waters of these pools have a brackish taste, and 

 are partly fed by salt springs ; and the plants that make their home in 

 their vicinity are usually lovers of maritime surroundings. These are the 

 golden dock, Rumex maritimus ; the sea club-rush, Scirpus maritimus ; the 

 glaucous club-rush, S. Taberncemontanus ; the loose sedge, Carex distant ; 

 and the celery, Apium graveolens. 



A comparison may here be made between the flora of Warwickshire 

 and that of the neighbouring counties of Oxfordshire, Northamptonshire, 

 Leicestershire, Staffordshire, Worcestershire, and Gloucestershire. The 

 total flora of Warwickshire consists of about 905 species, including the 

 ferns, club-mosses, pillworts, horsetails and charas. As the total for Great 

 Britain is 1,958, it will be seen that Warwickshire yields only about 

 one-half that number. From its central position it naturally possesses a 

 large percentage of the common or British type, viz., 501 out of 532 ; 

 of southern or English type more than two-thirds ; about one-fourth the 

 eastern type ; one-ninth the western type ; and one-tenth of the northern 

 type of the British flora. There are in Warwickshire, 101 plants not 

 recorded for Oxfordshire; 134 not recorded for Northamptonshire; 

 68 not recorded for Leicestershire ; 67 not recorded for Staffordshire ; 

 55 not recorded for Worcestershire ; and 78 not recorded for Gloucester- 

 shire. 



There are in Oxfordshire 42 not recorded for Warwickshire ; in 

 Northamptonshire 32 not recorded for Warwickshire ; in Leicestershire 

 23 not recorded for Warwickshire ; in Staffordshire 56 not recorded for 

 Warwickshire ; in Worcestershire 48 not recorded for Warwickshire ; 

 and in Gloucestershire 92 not recorded for Warwickshire. 



The botanical districts into which the county has been divided are 

 based on the river drainage, and are those adopted in my Flora of Warwick- 

 shire. They are (i) the Tame, (2) the Blythe, including the Cole, and 

 (3) the Anker, all forming part of the basin of the Trent ; (4) the 

 Avon, (5) the Leam, (6) the Sow, (7) the Stour, (8) the Alne, (9) the 

 Arrow ; all forming part of the basin of the Severn ; (10) the Cherwell 

 which drains into the Thames. 



i. THE TAME 



The Tame rises near Bloxwich in Staffordshire and enters Warwick- 

 shire north of Birmingham at Witton, a brook-like stream abounding in 

 the long trailing stems of Ranunculus fiuitans ; thence it flows eastward, 

 past Castle Bromwich and Water Orton ; where is found the rare star of 

 Bethlehem, Gagea lutea ; receiving on its left bank contributory streams 

 from Sutton Park and the surrounding country ; continuing in an easterly 

 direction past Hams Hall the river Blythe flows into it on the right 

 bank, and near this also the little river Bourne which drains a wide 

 extent of country around Astley, Whitacre and Baxterley ; a little 

 further on its course is abruptly diverted northward past Kingsbury and 



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