24 SCIENTIFIC SURVEY OF NORWICH AND DISTRICT 
IV. 
THE BOTANY OF NORFOLK 
BY 
W. A. NICHOLSON anp E. A. ELLIS. 
THE general opinion of Norfolk is, that it is a flat county, with no out- 
standing features of great interest; but from a botanist’s point of view 
it possesses a much more varied flora than would be expected. Perhaps 
its most striking characteristics are the large extent of water in the Broads 
district eastward and the sandy Breckland in the south-west, the latter 
with almost a special flora of its own. With an unstable.coastline estimated 
at 80 to go miles, distant about 110 miles from the nearest point on the 
European mainland, its dunes and salt marshes are especially interesting 
from their geographical position and the frequent physiographical changes 
taking place. A low rainfall of 26 in., the prevalence of cold north-east 
winds in the springs of some years, and the occurrence of sea mists in 
coastal districts, exercise an important influence on vegetation. 
In the following summary of what Norfolk has to offer to the botanist, 
the area is subdivided in accordance with special types of plant associa- 
tion: shingle-banks and dunes; the alga-producing zones of the sea; 
estuaries and salt marshes; rivers and broads; heaths (wet and dry) ; 
breckland ; the chalk; wooded areas of various kinds; hedgerows and 
waste patches. The dominant or peculiarly interesting species are 
mentioned under each habitat. There follow a note on the conservation 
of the flora and a bibliography for the use of students. 
Types OF NORFOLK VEGETATION. 
(1) Dunes and Shingle-banks. 
The north coast, from Hunstanton to Weybourne, consists of outlying 
sand and shingle-ridges, broken by creeks connected with the sea, and 
there is a more uniform line of dunes stretching between Eccles and Great 
Yarmouth on the east. Blakeney Point, Scolt Head and Holme have 
been studied ecologically by botanists from London and Cambridge 
Universities, and numerous papers on the two former have been published 
in the Transactions of the Norfolk and Norwich Naturalists’ Society. 
Of the few shingle species, Glaucium flavum is found at Blakeney and 
Cley, having died out at Yarmouth during the past century. Salsola kali 
is widely distributed along the line of highest tides, and Cakile maritima 
frequently accompanies it; the sea pea, Lathyrus maritimus, is confined 
at a small patch at Holkham, and Mertensia maritima is at its southern 
limit of distribution in Britain at Blakeney Point. Euphorbia paralias 
rows in two places. ‘The dunes are primarily established by Agropyron 
