BOTANY 



Chalk occurs near the coast from Axmouth to Pinhay, also about Beer Head and Brans- 

 combe, with a small patch between Salcombe Regis and Weston Mouth, and there it is the 

 most westerly example of chalk in England ; small patches occur also near the Blackdown 

 Hills. 



The climate of the district is illustrated by the following tables, which have been obtained 

 in the way explained under the Barnstaple district : — 



Table I. — Decade 1890-9 



Station 



Altitude, 

 feet 



Mean annual rainfall, 

 inclies 



Mean annual number of days on 

 which -oi inch or more of rain fell 



Clevelands, Axmouth . . . 

 Rousdon 



476 

 516 



33-43 

 31-47 



164 



170 



Table 2 



Station 



Altitude, 



feet 



above 



sea-level 



Mean 

 annual 

 rainfall, 

 inches 



Mean 

 annual 

 number 



of 



sunless 



days 



Mean 

 percentage 



of 



humidity 



at 



9 a.m. 



Mean 

 annual 

 number 

 of hours 

 of sun- 

 shine 



Mean 

 percent- 

 age of 

 possible 

 sunshine 



Mean 

 percent- 

 age of 

 cloud 

 at 

 9 a.m. 



Temperature in Fah. degrees, 

 average annual 



Mean at 

 9 a.m. 



Mini- 

 mum 



Maxi- 

 mum 



Rousdon . . 

 Sidmouth . . 

 Exmouth . . 



S16 

 186 



31-94 

 3279 



34-17 



70 



86 

 81 



1688 

 1671 



38 

 38 



66 

 64 



49-52 

 51-83 



24-43 

 23-17 



78-27 

 80-30 



The meadow rue {Thalictrum flavum) was recorded by Jones and Kingston in 1829 as 

 occurring by Bishop's Clyst bridge, and Mr. James Jermyn of Exeter tells me that it still 

 exists there and has spread in the immediate neighbourhood. The all-seed (Polycarpon tetra- 

 phyllum) was also recorded by Jones and Kingston ; it was found originally on some old walls 

 at Lympstone by the Rev. William Newberry of Bushey, and subsequently by Miss Filmore. 



The flower of the Axe {Lobelia urens) was first discovered in Britain by Mr. William 

 Newbery of Stockland, Devon, on high ground in a boggy moor on Shute Common, between 

 Axminster and Honiton, in October 1768 ; it still maintains its place there, and has also been 

 found in east Cornwall and on the borders of Dartmoor. 



The tea-plant, a species of Lycium, often planted for ornament by cottagers, is a native of 

 Greece and the Mediterranean region, etc., and is naturalized about Exmouth ; it is not the 

 original L. harbarum of Linnaeus, which belongs to hot dry tracts in north Africa and south 

 Persia, and which differs from our plant by the corolla-tube being shorter and by the still 

 shorter stamens ; our plant is L. halimifolium, Miller, which is perhaps identical with 

 L. chinense. Miller. 



The twiny-leg {Bartsia viscosa) was recorded by Hudson in 1778 as occurring in Devon, 

 a precise locality probably being on the side of a rivulet that runs hy the bog nearest Budleigh 

 Salterton, and plentifully in the marshy ground just at the end of the village {Journ. Bot. 

 1884, p. 172). 



The spear-mint {Mentha viridis) was recorded by Hudson in 1778 as occurring in 

 watery places and at the banks of streams near Exmouth ; it is also reported from Sidford. 



The shrubby stonecrop or ^ssswort {Suada frutkosa) was recorded by Hudson in 1762 as 

 inhabiting the sea-coast of Devon ; it is also mentioned in Cullen's Flora Sidostiensis (1849) 

 as indigenous to the vicinity of Sidmouth ; Budleigh Salterton is given in Stewart's Torquay 

 Flora on the authority of Miss A. GrifHths as a station for it, but specimens from that locality 

 in that lady's herbarium at Torquay, labelled ' Chenopodium — ? Budleigh Salterton,' seemed to 

 Dr. Trimon to be a procumbent form of 5. maritima (Keys) ; these records do not appear to 

 justify the retention of S. fruticosa in our county flora. 



The mistletoe {Fiscum album) was recorded by Jones and Kingston in 1829 as occurring 

 in an orchard at Holcombe Rogus on the borders of Somerset, on the authority of the 

 Rev. A. Neck ; it was also reported in Flora Sidostiensis as occurring at Harpford, Larkbere, 

 and as plentiful on Pin farm, Otterton ; the last record has been confirmed during recent 



years. 



The Portland spurge {Euphorbia portlandica) was recorded by Hudson in 1778 as occurring 

 on the sands of the sea-shore near Exmouth, the precise locality apparently being near the 



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