THE BOTANY OF NOTTINGHAMSHIRE 73 



District II 



This consists of the Bunter or lower division of the Trias, and includes 

 the fine-grained red or variegated sands of the Lower Red and Mottled 

 Sandstone, and the yellow or brownish sands and conglomerates of the 

 Bunter Pebble-beds. 



The district possesses a distinctive and characteristic flora, although, 

 as will be seen from the list given below, a large proportion of the species 

 occur elsewhere. This is due to the fact that most sand-loving plants 

 find an equally suitable habitat in the sandy patches which occasionally 

 occur in the Keuper Marl, in the tracts of sandy alluvium bordering the 

 Trent in District III, and in the drift sands which cover a part of District 

 IV on the eastern edge of the county. 



The existing remains of the once far more extensive Sherwood Forest 

 lie entirely in this district, and consist chiefly of oak and birch timber 

 with a dense undergrowth of bracken, and open spaces covered with 

 gorse (Ulex), ling (Calluna), heath (Erica cinerea), bracken (Pteris), 

 Deschampsia flexuosa, etc., and dotted with old thorn trees often infested 

 with mistletoe (Viscum) 



A few bits of boggy ground are still to be found along the courses of 

 some of the streams, as at Oxton and Rainworth, and to these we owe 

 the survival of some of our most interesting plants. Of late years, how- 

 ever, owing partly to a succession of dry seasons and partly to the sinking 

 of deep wells for the water supply of the surrounding towns, these bogs 

 have become nearly dry at times, with the result that such things as the 

 sundew (Drosera). butterwort iPinguicula), cranberry (Oxycoccus), the 

 ferns Lastrea ihelypteris, L. oreopteris, L. cristata and L. uUginosa, and 

 our three species of Lycopoditnn, are fast disappearing or have already 

 gone. 



Among the characteristic plants of the district are the following: 



♦Ranunculus lingua L. *Ulex minor Roth. 



*Corydalis claviculata DC. *Medicago denticulata Willd. 



*Arabis glabra Bernh. Trifolium subterraneum L. 



Teesdalia nudicaulis Br. ., arvense L. 



Viola palustris L. „ striatum L. 



„ ericetorum Schrad. Ornithopus perpusillus L. 

 tricolor E.B. and its forms. *Vicia lathyroides L. 



Polygala serpyllacea Weihe. *Lathyrus palustris L. 



*Dianthus deltoides L. Potentilla argentea L. 



Silene anglica L. .. palustris Scop. 



* „ nutans L. Chrysosplenium alternifolium L. 



Cerastium semidecandrum L. *Drosera rotundifolia L. 



„ arvense L. *Epilobium adnatum Griseb. 



Moenchia erecta Gaertn. Galium saxatile L. 



Sagina ciliata Fr. Antennaria dioica Gaertn. 



Spergularia rubra Presl. Gnaphalium sylvaticum L. 

 ♦Montia fontana L. Senecio sylvaticus L. 



Hypericum humifusum L. Arnoseris pusilla Gaertn. 



Erodium cicutarium L'Her. Hieracium tridentatum Fr. 



Genista anglica L. Jasione montana L. 



