Il] WOODLAND ASSOCIATIONS 67 



limestone slopes and the more sheltered portions of the 

 limestone plateau were covered by a primaeval ash forest, just 

 as similar places on the sandstones and shales were once 

 covered by forests of oak (Quercus sessiliflora) and birch {Betula 

 puhescens). The numerous place-names including the word 

 " ash " indicate that the dominance of the ash in the Peak 

 District is of long standing. Of such names, one may mention 

 Ashwood dale, Ashford dale, Money Ash ( = many ash), and, on 

 the edge of the plateau at the woodland limit, One Ash. 



On the Chalk rocks of the south and east of England, the 

 ash is a very abundant and characteristic plant, though its 

 dominance in woods is apparently confined to their south- 

 western margin, where ash woods occasionally occur (cf Moss, 

 Rankin, and Tansley, 1910: 137). 



The recognition of the ash woods in England may fairly 

 be claimed as a result of the method of vegetation survey, as 

 their occurrence had apparently been quite overlooked both by 

 foresters and botanists ; and, as already stated, ash woods are 

 undescribed for the continent of Europe. As Elwes (1908, iv: 

 870) has stated that the ash is probably the only hardwood 

 which, at the present time, it pays to cultivate, it is obviously 

 a matter of economic importance to note the distribution of 

 spontaneous ash woods. 



Although many of the ash woods have been interfered with, 

 there can be no doubt that they represent the typical and 

 natural vegetation of the calcareous hill slopes of northern and 

 western England. Some of the ash woods show no signs of 

 planting, and possess, in fact, all the attributes of a primitive 

 plant association. The ash produces ripe seeds ; and seedlings 

 in all stages occur in abundance. The land agents and keepers 

 of the ash woods assert that the ash is not planted, but that it 

 springs up everywhere " like a weed." Many of the slopes on 

 which the ash woods occur are too rocky and precipitous to have 

 ever been enclosed as farmland (figure 9) ; and even on the less 

 rocky slopes where the woods have degenerated into scrub and 

 grassland, the land is not always reclaimed, but often remains 

 uncultivated. Further, the associated trees, shrubs, and ground 

 species are such as botanists agree in regarding as members of 

 the primitive flora of the country. It is legitimate and reason- 

 able, therefore, to regard the ash woods as primitive. 



5—2 



