124 THE DISTRIBUTION OF LIVING PLANTS. 



growing in the cornfields, hedges and woods of this district are 

 the Corn-Crow-foot, Green Hellebore, Common Barberry, Penny 

 Cress, and the Blue Fleabane {Erigeron acre). 



The heath districts of this corner of Dorset may be taken, in 

 conjunction with the other heath lands of the county, as of 

 necessity producing similar vegetation, though the geological 

 position of the sandy beds on the west differs widely from those 

 on the east. We find the Sneeze-wort Yarrow {Achillea Ptarmica), 

 Common Chamomile {^Anthemis nobih's), the Small-flowered 

 Sweetbriar [Rosa mio'antha), and many others almost equally 

 frequent in these parts. Whin, or Furze, is found in abundant 

 profusion. 



It is interesting to mention here a few of the plants that have 

 been naturalised from other countries, such as — (i) the Yellow 

 Mimulus, whose home was on the banks of rivers in North-West 

 America, but which has long been cultivated in our gardens and 

 is now naturalised in many boggy places, as at Bourton and 

 Houghton ; it has been found growing on the banks of the Wey 

 and by the river side at Bradford Peverell — (2) the Water 

 Thyme {Anacharis Ahinastriini) which floats entirely under 

 water and was probably introduced from North America — (3) the 

 Pheasants' Eye {Adonis aittiimnalis) at home in the cornfields of 

 Central and Southern Europe and Western Asia, and — (4) the 

 Tea plant {Lyciuin harharuni) for some time naturalised on our 

 coasts and in some of the Eastern counties. 



We need not enter upon the interesting subject of the lower 

 forms of vegetation, such as the mosses, lichens, and 

 parasitical plants common to the county, but, before closing this 

 paper, attention may be drawn to the chemical connection 

 between the vegetable and mineral provinces of Nature's king- 

 dom, and the existence of an ascending scale in plant life — thus, 

 lichens and mosses decomposing the rock surface and extracting 

 from it their means of sustenance, by their death afford the 

 necessary provender for grasses, and these, in their turn, make 

 way for plants of a higher order, and so we must recognise the 

 economic value of many vegetable organisms that have in 



