[November, 1858.] 601 



THE FLORA OF PORTLAND. 

 By Henry Groves. 



Although the number of visitors that resort annually to Port- 

 land for the purpose of recreation must amount to many thou- 

 sands, and guide-books setting forth the many objects of popular 

 attraction multiply with a fungoid rapidity, yet, up to the pre- 

 sent time, no attempt has been made to describe the Flora of 

 this remarkable peninsula. With the idea of supplying in some 

 measure this manifest deficiency, we have arranged the notes 

 taken on our excursions in that locality, and place them before 

 our readers in the form of the present paper. 



Portland, although more frequently styled an island, is in fact 

 a peninsula, being connected with the mainland by a long and 

 noble ridge of pebbles, which do not owe their origin to the de- 

 tached rocks of Portland, as has been supposed, but are to be 

 referred to flints, etc., from the cliffs contiguous to Lyme Regis, 

 whence they have been driven eastward by the prevalence of 

 western gales. This fact was first pointed out by J. Coode, Esq., 

 in a paper read before the Society of Civil Engineers. The 

 general formation of the island itself is freestone, which lies im- 

 mediately below the surface of a scanty top-soil, and at a depth 

 of a few feet is traversed by a dirt-bed, rich in remains of Palms 

 and Cycadaceous plants, the whole lying on a bed of fuller's 

 earth. A good specimen of the trunk of one of the Palms al- 

 luded to, may be seen set up by the side of a house in the village 

 of Fortuneswell. Before proceeding with the Flora of the so- 

 called island, we will enumerate the most remarkable species to 

 be found on the pebbly isthmus more generally known as Chesil 

 Bank, the first word of which is a derivative of an Anglo-Saxon 

 word signifying sand or gravel, and is also to be met with in the 

 composition of other names of localities in Dorset, as Chesil- 

 bourne, etc. One day we had the hardihood to explore the whole 

 length of this beach, but considering the great distance (ten 

 miles), and the difficulty one experiences in walking on the loose 

 pebbles, we cannot advise our friends to follow our example. 

 However, should any one be desirous of accomplishing the feat, 

 we strongly advise them to avail themselves of the thin line of 

 dry Zostera to be met with at high-water mark. The two " lions " 



N. S. VOL. II. 4 H 



