A HISTORY OF KENT 



in marshes at Plumstead and Higham, was suspected by him to be 

 Festuca prociimbens x G. distans ; being almost intermediate and always 

 accompanied by both species. G. Borreri, Bab. is locally abundant in 

 muddy salt marshes of the north and east, its one station on the south 

 coast being at Dymchurch. Festuca uniglumis, Soland. grows sparingly 

 on Deal sandhills ; together with plenty of F. ambigua, Le Gall, also 

 found about Sandwich and Littlestone. F. sylvatica, Vill. is a Tunbridge 

 Wells rarity. F. loliacea. Curt. {F. pratensis x Lo/ium perenne) has occa- 

 sionally been met with. Bromus madritensis, L., was once found upon the 

 beach at Walmer and at Deal ; several allied species are casuals near 

 Woolwich. B. interruptus, Druce, hitherto detected only at Eltham, 

 Dartford and Barham, may easily have been passed by as a form of 

 B. mollis, L. Lolium temulentiwj, L. (darnel) is uncommon. Our mari- 

 time forms of Agropyron (T'riticum) are well represented in the county. 

 Hordeum syhaticitm, Huds. is reported from Riverhill (district 8), Hawk- 

 hurst and Cranbrook (district 9) ; the two last seem unlikely places 

 for it. Flymus arenarius, L. (lyme grass) really grows at Dover, as 

 alleged ; this makes the Thanet stations given by Flower less improb- 

 able than we had supposed. 



FiLiCES. — In the suburban districts it is now difficult to find any 

 fern except bracken, and the rarer species have been sadly thinned out 

 elsewhere. Hymenophyllum tunbridgense, Sm. (filmy fern), Asplenium 

 lanceolatum, Huds., and Cystopteris fragilis, Bernh. are nearly, if not 

 quite, destroyed at Tunbridge Wells ; Osmunda regalis, L. only exists 

 in a few remote spots, and Ceterach officinarum, Willd. is in much the 

 same plight. Lastrcea Thelypteris, Presl, L. Oreopteris, Presl, and L. 

 spinulosa, Presl, still however occur in fair quantity. L. cetnula. Bracken- 

 bridge has two stations assigned to it in district 8. Botrychium Lunar ia, 

 Sw. (moonwort) was lately found near Goudhurst, and may survive in 

 some of its old haunts ; Ophioglossum vulgatum, L. (adder's tongue) is 

 frequent, except in the north-west. 



Equisetace^. — Equisetum sylvaticum, L. (wood horsetail), though 

 observed in six of our divisions, must be called scarce. There are 

 specimens of E. hyemale, L. from east Kent in herbaria, but we do 

 not know the precise locality. Several other species occur freely. 



Lycopodiace^. — Lycopodium inundatum, L. (bog clubmoss) still 

 grows at Keston and Hothfield, though probably lost at Chislehurst. 

 L. clavatum, L. (stag's-horn moss) has three stations in district 8 and 

 four in district 9. 



Marsileace^. — Pilularia globulifera, L, (pillwort) is only recorded 

 from Sutton Valence. 



THE MOSSES {Musci). 

 The chief feature of the Bryological flora of Kent is the absence of the great majority of 

 subalpine mosses, and of such as would occur in boggy districts or on elevated moors, these 

 geographical features being almost absent from Kent. This is the more singular in that the 

 sand rocks, just over the border of the county, in Sussex, furnish many subalpine species, 

 especially south of Tunbridge Wells. On the other hand the mosses characteristic of the 



68 



