[December, 1858.] 633 



PLANTS OF THE CHANNEL ISLANDS. 



Notice of South European Plants indigenous to the Channel Is- 

 lands, tnost of which reach their northern limits in the south 

 and ivest of Britain. By G. Henslow, Christ's College, 

 Cambridge. 



The study of the Flora of the Channel Islands is one of pecu- 

 liar interest to the English botanist, inasmuch as they are not 

 only particularly favoured in possessing many rare and choice 

 plants, but as being, as it were, stepping-stones to the British 

 Isles for the south European Flora. 



Before the year 1837 very little attention had been paid to the 

 Flora of these islands; and no catalogue of their plants, with 

 any attempt at completeness, had been published previous to that 

 time. The earliest account consists of a few scattered notices of 

 plants discovered by Dr. Sherard, between the years 1680 and 

 1690, and given in Ray's ' Synopsis.' A few plants have from 

 time to time been added to the list, when Mr. Babington pub- 

 lished his ' Primitise Florse Sarnicse,' in 1839 ; but no new pub- 

 lication has appeared subsequently, although several additional 

 indigenous plants have been discovered in the Islands. 



In the following notice I have only selected such of the rare 

 plants and others as are characteristic of the Sarnian Flora, and 

 which appear to attain their northern or western limits in these 

 islands, or in the southern coimties of England and Ireland. 



From the position of the islands (Mr. Babington remarks, in 

 the preface to his work), their Flora much more resembles that 

 of the coast of France than that of the southern and south- 

 western counties of England; for in fact, while every plant will 

 be found on the adjoining French coast, many appear to reach 

 their extreme limits in the above counties, and some few do not 

 even extend further than Jersey. On the other hand, there are 

 some characteristic and common English plants which do not 

 appear in these islands ; the following is a short list of such i'^ — 



Clematis Yitalba. Viola liii-ta. Achillea Ptarmica. 



Thalictrum flavum. Ononis antiquoi'um. CampanulaceaB.f 



Caltha palustris. Gralium cruciatum. Melampyrum {no species). 



Anemone nemorosa. Hypericum hirsutum. Pinguicula vulgaris. 



* Principally from the preface to Babington's ' Primitise Floree Sarnicse.' 

 t No species except Wahlenhergia hederacea and Jasione montana. 

 N. S. VOL. II. 4 M 



