38 FLORA OF BRITAIN. 



and more northern latitude lessened considerably as the 

 season advanced, being much greater in the early part of 

 the year.* 



II. GENERAL REMARKS ON THE FLORA AND 

 VEGETATION OF BRITAIN. 



1. NUMERICAL ESTIMATE. 



It is not an easy matter, in the present day, to define 

 the flora of Britain. Many species, originally introduced 

 by human agency, now exist in a wild state ; some of them 

 only continued by unintentional sowings along with corn 

 or other cultivated plants; while several keep their acquired 

 hold of the soil unaided, and often despite our efforts to 

 dispossess them. Both these classes certainly now consti- 

 tute a part of the British flora, with just as much claim as 

 the descendants of Saxons or Normans have to be consi- 

 dered a part of the British nation. But there is a third 

 class, consisting of plants which have yet acquired a very 

 uncertain right to be incorporated with the proper spon- 

 taneous flora of the island, albeit many botanists anxiously 

 seek to include them in it ; — an anxiety perhaps origin- 

 ating more in the Love of Approbation (phrenologically 

 speaking) than in the Love of Science. This third class 

 consists partly of species springing up occasionally from 

 seeds or roots thrown out of gardens, and maintaining 

 themselves a few years ; and partly also of those design- 

 edly planted for ornamental or economical purposes, t 



* The reader, who is interested in the progress of vegetation ac- 

 cording to season, should consult the Kalendarial Index in Loudon's 

 Encyclopaedia of Gardening, edit, of 1834-5. 



•j- We often find botanists calling such " naturalised plants," al- 

 though the only grounds may be that they live where planted. 



