BOTANY 



river, and rise suddenly from the lower land, which was formerly 

 unenclosed, and known as Malvern Chase. The Worcestershire Beacon, 

 the hill immediately behind Great Malvern, is the highest point in the 

 range, which is chiefly composed of syenite. To the north of the 

 Malverns is a series of eminences composed of Upper Silurian rocks, 

 capped in places with Permian, which includes the hills of Ankerdine, 

 Berrow and Woodbury, and curves round by the Abberley Hills to the 

 east, while to the west of this range is the Old Red Sandstone district of 

 Worcestershire. Lime-loving plants are found on these eminences, 

 including Clematis Vttalba, Anthyllis Vulneraria and Onobrychis sativa, 

 which do not stray far on to the red marl. Malvern Hills themselves 

 are bare, and covered with close-cropped turf, affording little that is 

 peculiar to their circumstances. Sedum album was found only in the 

 county in a native condition on these hills, and Potentilla "verna is also 

 thus limited. The bilberry grows only sparsely, and heather is un- 

 common. On the different commons on the low ground that still 

 represent Malvern Chase several damp spots afford aquatic plants, but 

 many have disappeared on account of the enclosure and cultivation of 

 the greater part of the district. 



In the south-east part of Worcestershire a country of quite a 

 different character is entered upon. Most of it is on the Lias formation, 

 while Broadway and Bredon Hills are capped with Oolite. Through this 

 district meanders the Avon, differing from Severn and Teme in the fact 

 that its waters are always bank high, while the other two rivers have cut 

 for themselves deep channels in which they flow. The valley of the 

 Severn is bounded on the east in the middle part of its course through 

 the county by a bold escarpment of marl on which rest Lias limestones 

 and shales, and behind which the limestone crops out in lower ridges, 

 the western faces of which are usually thickly clothed with trees and 

 underwood, in which Viburnum Lantana is plentiful. The plants of the 

 higher parts of the district about Bredon and Broadway belong nearly 

 entirely to the flora of the Cotswolds. Such are Astragalus hypoglottis, 

 Hippocrepis comosa and Asperula cynanchica. Cnicus acaulis. Reseda lutea 

 and Linaria minor are also characteristic of the same locality. The Lias 

 stretches as far north in the county as Hanbury, and penetrates the Red 

 Marl in two tall narrow peaks, which join towards the south, and widen 

 out into a broad belt of surface. 



NOTES ON THE BOTANICAL DISTRICTS 



Worcestershire is divided into four botanical districts : (i.) Avon ; (ii.) Severn ; (iii.) Mal- 

 vern ; (iv.) Lickey. In a great measure these divisions are purely artificial ; they are formed 

 virithout regard to geological structure, and their boundaries are difficult to follow, and pay no 

 respect to the water-partings of the several rivers. 



(i.) The Avon district comprises the south-eastern portion of the county. Its northern 

 limit on the county boundary is reached at Headless Cross, near Redditch, and continues 

 north-westerly along the Bromsgrove road to the point where this crosses the Birmingham 

 canal, along which the boundary proceeds in a south-westerly direction as far as Oddingley. 



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