Botany S5 



Through the Boulder Clay woods of the rest of the County, Adamson 

 recognised the same communities, the drier, such as the Mcrcurialis society, 

 especially in soils over the Chalk, and the wetter, such as the Filipendula 

 society, in soils over the Gault. In general, however, the impermeability 

 of all the Boidder Clay soils leads to winter water-logging which has a 

 marked local influence on the ground flora. 



A generalised idea of the groimd flora can be gathered from the follow- 

 ing lists of species in Hardwick Wood: 



Dense old coppice: 



Primula elat'wr Mercurialis perennis 



Viola riviniana Scilla non-scripta 



V. sihestris Arum maculatum 



Circaea lutetiana Listera ovata 



Sanicula europaea Orchis mamlata 



Geum urhammi Neottia nidus-avis 



Hedera helix Habenaria bifolia 

 Ajuga reptans 



Recently coppiced areas show in addition : 



Anemone nemorosa Primula vulgaris 



Ranunculus Jicaria Solanum dulcamara 



Viola hirta Scrophularia nodosa 



Hypericum hirsutum Prunella vulgaris 



Lathyrus sihestris Lamium galeohdolon 



Filipendula ulmaria Stachys silvatica 



Rubus caesius et spp. Rumex viridis 



Epilobium angustifolium Tamus communis 



E. hirsutum Juncus effusus 



E. montanum Carex silvatica 



Angelica sihestris C. glauca 



Galium aparine Deschampsia caespitosa 



Arctium minus Brachypodium silvaticum 

 Cirsium palustre 



Further interesting species present in other woods of the same type are 

 Paris quadrifolia, Helleborus viridis, H. foetidus, Conopodium denudatum, 

 Geum intermedium, and Melampyrum cristatum. On the other hand, it is 

 remarkable that Oxalis acetosella, Adoxa moschatellina, and Allium ursimirn, 

 should be extraordinarily infrequent : the foxglove {Digitalis purpurea) is 

 quite absent. The true oxlip, Primula elatior, was shown by Miller Christie 

 to be confined in this country to the Boulder Clay areas of East Anglia; 

 and in Cambridgeshire this restriction is very clear,' but the status of the 



' Just as the oxlip and other woodland species like Paris quadrifolia and Daphne 

 laureola are confmed to this formation, so in pastures arc Genista tinctoria and Trifolium 

 ochrokucum ; in wood-margins and hedgerows, Melampyrum cristatum ; and in cultivated 

 fields Linaria elalinc, L. spuria, and the very rare Bupleurum rotiindifolium and Euphorbia 

 platyphyllos. 



