CHANNEL ISLANDS FLORA. 191 



Inula crithmoides L., Diotis candidissima Desf., Ccntaiirea 

 aspera L. 



In this list are many species which are abundant in W. Europe. 

 Many of them reach the southern counties of England, a few get 

 as far as Wales, one or two as far as S. Scotland, yet the base 

 from which they spread is S. Europe. But besides them, there is 

 a considerable number of plants whose proper home is on the 

 shores of the Mediterranean, and which straggle up the west coast 

 of France, becoming rarer as they advance towards the north. 

 The names of these are printed m italics, and they constitute the 

 most interesting element in the Channel Islands Flora. It is not 

 difBcult to explain their presence. It was to be expected a priori 

 that the mildness of the maritime climate of W. Europe would 

 enable some of the southern plants to advance much farther north 

 than is possible in the interior of the Continent, and experience 

 has proved that this expectation has been justified ; but few 

 botanists would have expected to'find so bright a gleam of the 

 sunshine of the Mediterranean so far north. This feature is 

 emphasised by the presence of one or two naturahsed aliens which 

 have come from the south — Centaurea paniculata L., Scabiosa 

 maritima L., Allium triquetrum L., Briza maxima L., and Silene 

 quinquevulnera L. 



The attention of an English botanist cannot fail to be unme- 

 diately attracted by this Mediterranean element, which is certainly 

 most conspicuous in Jersey. Some of the plants are abundant. 

 Romulea Columnae covers the short turf all round the island in 

 the spring, and Armeria plantaginea and Echium plantagineum 

 form enormous sheets of colour in June and July. The abundance 

 of the last-named plant is remarkable. It does not occur in the 

 other islands, or in Normandy or Brittany, and is very rare north 

 of the Ghonde, but it must be regarded as native, for it was 

 plentiful about St. HeUer's in Dr. Sherard's day. Many of the 

 other plants are plentiful enough in the locahties in which they 

 occur. Others, again, which are found in the southern counties of 

 England begin to assume a southern look. The small species of 

 Trifolium, for m stance, grow far larger, and there is a form of 

 Banunculus Ficaria which is about half-way between the English 

 plant and the S. European var. granditiora. 



Another interesting point is that the Channel Islands are 

 apparently the extreme iiorthern limit to which some of the 



