XIV PRESIDENT S ADDRESS. 



well-deserved celebrity. His "British Plants"' ran through at 

 least six editions, the sixth being edited by his son Wm. 

 Withering, of The Larches, Sparkbrook, in 1818. Let this 

 reminiscence of past grandeur induce us to emulate men who 

 have left their mark upon science and upon our town. Our 

 Town Council do not seem to remember it, as with this 

 wealth of names to choose from they have called their mminum 

 opii^i " Corporation Street." (> tempani, (> mores ! 



But to return to the garment of vegetation. How did it 

 cover the earth ? Are there centres or zones of vegetable life '? 

 Can the dispersal of plants be traced ? Has tJie character of 

 the vegetation changed in different lands in the course of ages, 

 and if so what have been the causes of the change ? Tem- 

 perature, we know, has a marked influence on the economy of 

 plant life, therefore a fall of temperature would be followed by 

 the disappearance of many plants. Again, a rise of tempera- 

 ture would be followed by the disappearance of Arctic plants, 

 except those left upon high mountains scattered perhaps over a 

 large area. There are evidences of great changes in Britain. 

 The Glaciers of the Cumbrian and Cambrian mountains once 

 despatched their icebergs over the channel covering what is 

 now mid-England. A great region that came under this cooling- 

 influence is now called the Paliearctic region, and it is so 

 distinctly recognised that I noticed a bookseller's catalogue in 

 which works relating to the Palaearctic region are classed 

 together. So we must learn a new geography. Amongst 

 eminent English Botanists who have written on the distribution 

 of plants is our own member, Mr. W. Mathews, who has contri- 

 buted an excellent paper on the Flora of Algeria. Let us hope 

 that his next contribution may be laid upon our altar. 



Let me give a few facts. As regards the British Isles, 

 respecting which Mr. H. C. Watson is the chief authority, 

 we have no flowering plants of accepted species that are peculiar 

 to them alone. All are European except an orchid (SpiranthpH 

 cernua,) growing in the S.W. of Ireland, and the pipewort, 

 f Krincaxdnn septunijulun',) a curious water plant, common in 



