54 CORNISH FLORA. 



to be as macli a geographical problem as fashion and politics, 

 some attempt is being made to solve the -R-hy and the wherefore 

 of certain well-defined areas of j)lants. It is not enough to 

 record that the Tamar district is the haunt of liubi, that the 

 Lizard Peninsula is the region of Leguminosce and Characece^ and 

 that north of the range of hills forming the backbone of the 

 county the Naked-stalked Teesdalia ( Teesdalia nudicaulis) and the 

 Upright ^blLcBVLchisi {Cerastium quaterneUum) are as much noted for 

 their rarity as they are south of the backbone for their fi-equency. 

 Similarly, why such plants as the Annual Knawell (Scleranthiis 

 animus), the Verticillate Knot-grass {lllecehrum verticillatum), and 

 the Pale-blue Toad-flax {Linaria repens), should attain their 

 maximum frequency on granite soil, where such common plants 

 as the Whitlow-grass [Erophila vulgaris) and the Foetid Iris {Iris 

 fcetidissima) are rarely seen, are questions to which some 

 satisfactory answers should be forthcoming, and which, with a 

 little more patience and research, I hope we shall be able to 

 furnish. 



Among those who have been devoting special care to these 

 and other problems in connection with our county's flora, mention 

 must be made of Mr. Walter Barratt, who devoted nearly four 

 months of the present year (1903) to a careful working of the 

 Padstow district, and who, by his assiduity and keenness, has 

 placed every student of Cornish plants under lasting obligation ; 

 Mr. P. V. Tellam, a prince among Cornish botanists, who retains 

 all his enthusiasm and alertness ; Mr. Clement Eeid, F.R.S., 

 whose exacting geological duties have not prevented him from 

 communicating a lot of critical information ; and Dr. C. C. 

 Vigurs, than whom the Newquay district has never had a more 

 devoted or more reliable botanist. These gentlemen have been 

 bestowing their energies more particularly on the flora north of 

 the county's backbone. In the "far east" Mr. W. Wise has 

 been constantly afield adding locality to locality, and has 

 impai'ted large stores of information about the plants of a 

 district with which he is most intimately acquainted. On the 

 south coast. Par, Pentewan and Porthpean have been under the 

 constant notice of Miss Spettigue ; Truro has a willing worker in 

 Miss Snell ; and the Falmouth district has been claiming the 

 attention of Mr, Howard Fox, F.Gr.S, 



