THE FLOWERING PLANTS AND FERNS 
OF LITTONDALE. 
Rev. W. A. SHUFFREY, M.A., 
Vicar of Halton Gill and Curate of Arncliffe. 
THE area designated ‘ Littondale’ comprises the four townships of 
Hawkswick, Arncliffe, Litton and Halton Gill. The dale runs 
south-east and north-west; and forms the southern branch of the 
fork, which, about half a mile above Kilnsey Scar, divides the upper 
part of Wharfedale into two portions. Littondale is watered by the 
Skirfare, which receives the waters of several smaller becks in its 
course, and finally empties itself into the main stream of the 
Wharfe at Amerdale Dub, half a mile below the eastern end of the 
valley. There is no arable land in the dale; the whole consists of 
pastures and meadows with extensive moors on the higher ground. 
The lower end of the valley is about 600 ft. above the sea, and the 
highest point—the top of Penyghent (the east side.of which is 
in Halton Gill) reaches an elevation of 2,273 ft. above the sea-level. 
With such a variety of scenery and extensive range of elevation, 
there is, as might be expected, a very rich flora; perhaps, it may be 
said, as rich as any in England when it is considered that the entire 
area is only eight miles in length, and about three miles in width. 
The richness of the flora may partly be accounted for by the fact 
that the geological formations of the valley are most favourable to 
the growth of plant-life. 
The strata shall be briefly described. The carboniferous mountain 
limestone forms the base of the valley; and on the south side in the 
Hawkswick and Arncliffe Clouders extends upwards to 1,700 ft., but 
on the north and west sides, when the mountain limestone reaches 
an elevation of 1,300 or 1,400 feet, it gives way to what is 
commonly known as the Yoredale series, a mixture of shale, limestone 
and grit. And this in turn, when it arrives at 1,700 or 1,800 ft., 
receives a covering of Kinderscout Grit which caps the long ridges, 
and the summits of the higher hills. It may be well to add also 
another fact which would affect the growth of the Cryptogams even 
more than the Phanerogams; the average annual rainfall amounts 
to 60 inches. 
Amidst such physical conditions, on crag and scar, in peat bog, 
and on the bleak hill top, in the sheltered woods and rich meadows 
and pastures of the dale grow the following plants, specimens of 
which it has been the writer’s great pleasure to collect and classify. 
Feb. 1891, : 
