THE FYLDE : PHYTOGEOGRAPHY 21 



frequently, bog plants. The undergrowth is never very dense, as rabbits are 

 frequent. Elder is a common constituent of it. Acer is common where the 

 Middle Sands predominate, e.g., at Plumpton (Sheet 29, C. 9), but it is 

 replaced largely by Ulmus on the clays. Conifers are rare outside plantations. 

 The flatness means severe exposure for some distance inland, and trees are 

 much slower in both seasonal and annual development than is normal for 

 Northern England. Willows (Salix pentandra, S. alba, S. viminalis, S. 

 Caprea, S. aurita) are very common along ditches (S. repens was formerly 

 ubiquitous on the dunes), but the sluggish streams are rarely wooded, by 

 reason of the embankments piled up from year to year in clearing them. 



The Main Phytogeographical Divisions. 



Areas I. and II. 



Most of the former bog north of the Wyre is now pasture and arable land, 

 and there is no great development of poultry farming as in the Fylde proper. 

 The woods are few. The former extent of the woodland may be judged 

 roughly from sections along field margins, although no pollen analyses are 

 available. Nevertheless, from these sections it is obvious that the trees of the 

 ' Mixed Oak Period ' were well represented. 



The West Lancashire peats have very little commercial value. Mining into 

 the Trias for salt comparable in age to that of Cheshire takes place below the 

 superficial deposits around Preesall. (Sheet 24, G. 10.) 



In the coastal areas the mudflats, stretching from the mouth of the Cocker 

 to a point about a mile west of Pilling, are distinct from the dry, sandy tract 

 with shingle, partly enclosed behind a sea wall, which reaches westward 

 from this point to the eastern side of the mouth of the Wyre at Knott End. 

 (Areas I. and II. respectively on the map.) Along the coast in this last 

 division is an area of blown sand smaller than the similar belt around St. Annes ; 

 inland, sand gives place to alluvium. 



The marsh is wider in extent in Cockerham Moss than in Pilling Moss. 

 There are fewer streams, and the salt marsh surface is firmer. The improved 

 drainage brings in Ulex and Urtica in profusion. Near the sea the ubiquitous 

 Ranunculus ficaria (Lesser Celandine) and more common Umbelhfers are 

 found in all but the tidal ditches. 



Writing in 1907 Wheldon and Wilson gave the following rarer species for the 

 eastern mud flats 1 : — 



(English names have been added where practicable.) 

 Cochlearia officinalis .... .... Scurvy Grass. 



Cochlearia Anglica 

 Apium graveolens 

 OEnanthe Lachenalii 

 Aster Tripoli urn... 

 Artemisia maritima 

 Statice Armeria.... 

 Glaux maritima.... 



English Grass. 



Celery. 



Cylindrical Water Dropwort. 



Sea Aster. 



Marine Wormwood. 



Plantain Thrift. 



Sea Milkwort. 



'Wheldon, J. A., and Wilson, A., The Flora of West Lancashire, 1907. 



