30 SCIENTIFIC SURVEY OF NORWICH AND DISTRICT 
(6) Breckland. 
A considerable area of south-west Norfolk, forming part of the 
‘ Breckland,’ is covered by a pall of sand on which grow a number of 
plants almost confined to this district in Britain (4). The steppe element 
in the flora includes the following species, which are dealt with at some 
length by E. J. Salisbury (18) : Silene conica, S. otites, Holosteum umbellatum 
(now extinct here?), Medicago falcata, M. minima, Artemisia campestris, 
Veronica triphyllos, V. verna, V. spicata, Scleranthus perennis, Muscari 
racemosum and Phleum boehmert. 
Medicago sylvestris, long known from East Anglia as a plant of 
somewhat variable and uncertain character, intermediate between 
M. sativa and M. falcata, is the hybrid of these two species, where they 
grow in the breckland and on the coast. It has been shown (8) that the 
effect of their hybridisation tends to eliminate the native M. falcata. 
Other interesting plants are Galium anglicum and Herniaria glabra 
(South European types), Carex ericetorum (North Continental), Malva 
moschata, and Tillea muscosa. Viola lutea, in East Anglia, grows only in 
the breck district. 
The afforestation of Thetford Chase and much of the surrounding land 
has been carried out during the past few years, and the pines are obliterat- 
ing the native plants on some thousands of acres. The State Forest is 
laid out in blocks of about thirty acres, bounded by rides and occasional 
public roads—the spaces forming ‘ fire-breaks.’ These pathways are 
bordered mainly by oak and beech. About one-fifth of the blocks are 
of beech and larch, while most of the trees are Scots and Corsican pines (13). 
(7) The Chalk. 
The following notes are from a paper by the late W. G. Clarke(4). The 
Chalk Flora of Norfolk, unlike that of most other places, is mainly on the 
Lower and Middle Chalk. The beech and ash-wood associations, so 
typical of downland elsewhere, are quite absent. Ringstead Downs and 
Massingham probably form the best examples of chalk downland in the 
county. The most characteristic plants are Reseda lutea, R. luteola, 
Orchis pyramidalis, Ophrys apifera, Helianthemum chamecistus, Hippocrepis 
comosa, Astragalus danicus, Spirea filipendula, Poterium sanguisorba, 
Asperula cynanchica, Scabiosa columbaria, Campanula glomerata, Plantago 
media and Origanum vulgare. 
The only moss actually confined to the chalk in Norfolk is Seligeria 
calcarea. Thuidium abietinum is found only on calcareous soil ; Campto- 
thecium lutescens is common in chalk-pits and on West Norfolk heaths, 
and Barbula tophacea where water stands occasionally in the pits. 
Porotrichum alopecurum and Anomodon viticulosus are lime-loving species 
common on chalky boulder-clay. 
(8) Woodlands. 
Norfolk has no great extent of wooded areas, and what there are have 
nearly all been planted. Perhaps the best district for pine and birch- 
