III. TYPES OF DISTRIBUTION. 25 
country, having been well ascertained to occur in all the eighteen 
provinces, probably to be found in every county, and even in all 
the six ascending zones also. Few species even of this most 
general type, however, are so very general in their distribution, 
By far the larger number of them have a restricted zonal range. 
Many, too, which are general with reference to the provinces, are 
absent from some of the counties. And a considerable number of 
species, which are too widely and abundantly distributed to come 
properly under any of the other types, are yet rare or wholly 
wanting in one or more of the provinces; particularly so in the 
northerly provinces of Scotland, and more especially in that of the 
North Isles, which has a very scanty flora. These are the 
“common plants,” too frequently disregarded by mere collectors of 
specimens ; and being seldom recorded, it has been found difficult 
to ascertain their full distribution from book records. It is to be 
observed, that the name of ‘ British type’ is applied to them, not 
as indicating any hypothetical notions about their origin within 
Britain, but because such a general distribution and -prevalence 
indicate great adaptation to the climate and other physical con- 
ditions of this island, and entitle them to be held Britons in the 
widest application of the term. Over one-third of the native and 
well-established species belong to this type, including ‘ natives,’ 
‘ denizens,’ ‘ colonists,’ as presently to be explained. Among the 
more thorough examples of the type may be instanced the fol- 
lowing, namely, Alnus glutinosa, Betula alba, Corylus Avellana, 
Lonicera Periclymenum, Hedera Helix, Calluna vulgaris, Ranun- 
culus acris, Cerastium viscosum, Trifolium repens, Stellaria media, 
Lotus corniculatus, Bellis perennis, Carduus palustris, Plantago 
lanceolata, Polygonum aviculare, Urtica dioica, Juncus effusus, 
Carex panicea, Poa annua, Festuca ovina, Anthoxanthum odora- 
ratum, Pteris aquilina, Polypodium vulgare. 
2. The English Type. — The plants of this geographic type are 
distinguished from those belonging to the preceding type, by 
having their chief prevalence in England, and particularly in its 
more southern provinces; whence they gradually become rare in 
a northern direction, and finally (with few peculiar exceptions) find 
E 
