BOTANY 



AS would naturally be expected, from its proximity to the 

 continent, Kent possesses a remarkably rich flora, probably 

 unrivalled in number of species by any other counties except 

 Hampshire and Sussex. The latter has not yet been thoroughly 

 explored, in spite of its general accessibility. Its critical plants, such as 

 the brambles and hawkweeds, are still imperfectly known ; and its much 

 longer stretch of coast, together with its milder and "warmer cHmate, 

 permitting the survival of such western species as the Cornish money- 

 wort {Sibthorpia europced)^ Bartsia viscosa, etc., give it certain advantages 

 in this respect, as compared with its eastern neighbour : so that, when 

 the botany of both has been more minutely investigated, it is reasonable 

 to suppose that Sussex will hold pride of place. 



Kent is proverbially ' the garden of England,' but as regards at 

 least the north-west portion it might more appropriately be called 

 England's ' market-garden,' so considerable is the area devoted to raising 

 fruit and vegetables. This preponderance of cultivation has caused a 

 great disturbance of native plants ; at the same time, there has been a 

 compensating invasion of colonists and casuals, particularly in the sub- 

 urban districts. Although there is still a fairly large area of heathy 

 wastes, they are less extensive than those of Surrey ; nor, with the 

 exception of its chalk country, the richness of which is unequalled in 

 Britain, and its littoral and estuarine preponderance, is Kentish botany, 

 upon the whole, of equal interest to the explorer. At the same time, 

 there is (we believe) no county where so many species can be observed 

 during the course of a day's ramble in a few favoured spots, such as the 

 valley of the Medway above Rochester. 



In our recently published work ^ we estimated the total number of 

 species (including Characea, here treated among the Alga), not reckoning 

 mere casuals or garden waifs, at about i,i6o, 1,014 being considered as 

 likely natives. This census is on the basis of the London Catalogue, ninth 

 edition, in which a large number of critical species are admitted to 

 equal rank with those of whose distinctness there is no question ; a mode 

 of treatment which is certainly open to some objection, but which seems, 

 in the present state of knowledge, to be the best preparation for a system 

 of grouping which cannot be successfully undertaken as yet. A few 

 interesting additions have already been made, and others will no doubt 



> Flora of Kent, by Frederick Janson Hanbury and Edward Shearburn Marshall (1899 : F.J. 

 Hanbury, 37 Lombard Street, E.G., price iz/. 6d.). 



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