325 



NOTES ON 

 THE FLORA OF WEST CUMBERLAND. 



PERCY H. GRIMSHAW, 

 Elm Grove, Bnrlcy-in-Whar/editle. 



While spending my annual holiday this year at Seascale, a small 

 ^vatering-place on the coast of Cumberland, I took the opportunity 

 of making a few notes on the flora of the district. My observations 

 were made between May 31st and June 13th, so that I missed many 

 plants, characteristic of the district, which bloom at a later period of 

 the year. 



The area over which I worked may be roughly bounded by 

 a line drawn from St. Bees Head to Wasdale Head, thence up Pier's 

 Gill to the summit of Scafell Pikes, down Eskdale to the village of 

 Boot, then along the narrow-gauge railway to Ravenglass, and finally 

 up the coast back to St. Bees. 



Perhaps it will be as well to enumerate the principal geological 

 features of this area. They are— (i) a narrow belt of Upper 

 Permian sandstones running up the whole of the coast, and varying 

 in width from two to about four and a half miles, with magnesian 

 limestone at the base of the cliff at St. Bees Head ; (2) adjoining 

 this belt, the great mass of Silurian slates (extending over a great 

 part of the Lake district); (3) various granites forming the strand at 

 the foot of Wastwater, part of Scafell, and most of the hills around 

 Eskdale ; and (4) the sand-dunes which line the coast for a few miles 

 N. and S. of Seascale. 



Owing to the presence of marshy ground in the hollows of the 

 sand-dunes the flora becomes nicely varied, and I was considerably 

 surprised at the number of plants found there. I append the list 

 (57 species in all) : — 



Ranunculus heteiophyllus. Hypericum humifu.sum. 



Ranunculus Flammula. Geranium sanguineum var. pros- 



Ranunculus bulbosus. tratum. 



Cochlearia officinalis. Erodium cicutarium. 



Brassica monensis. Genista tinctoria. 



Viola palustris. Ulex europsus. 



Viola canina. Trifolium repens. 



Polygala vulgaris. Trifolium dubium. 



Silene maritima. Anthyllis Vulneraria. 



Lychnis diurna. Lotus corniculatus. 



Lychnis Flos-cuculi, Lathyrus pratensis. 



.Stellaria uliginosa. Potentilla anserina. 



Arenaria peploides. Potentilla Comaruni. 



Nov. 1800. 



