A HISTORY OF DEVONSHIRE 



where our essentially southern forms are to be found in greater beauty or 

 greater abundance ; as there can be but few where the distribution of 

 those forms has been so well ascertained. Rosa mollis Sm., R. septum Thuill. 

 and R. glauca Vill. are the only real species in our British list which are 

 believed to be wholly wanting ; and of these the very local R. sepium is 

 alone at all likely to be found so far south. R. rubiginosa Sm. was con- 

 sidered by so good a judge as the late T. R. Archer Briggs to be native 

 in ' bushy spots ' in the Plymouth neighbourhood ; but it occurs very 

 sparingly in the county generally, and is no doubt usually only ' a garden 

 escape ' when its presence in a given locality is not due to the action of 

 birds. 



Our other species, seven in number, R. pimpinelloiaes Linn., R. 

 tomentosa Sm., R. micrantha Sm., R. obtustfolia Desv., R. canina Linn,, 

 R. systyla Bast, and R. arvensis Huds., all occur abundantly ; though 

 R. pimpinelloides and possibly R. obtustfolia are more local than the rest, 

 in Devon as in other English counties where they occur. R. pimpinelloides 

 in both divisions of the county is found chiefly (perhaps exclusively) 

 within a few miles of the sea, though often locally abundant there ; 

 while R. obtustfolia, though mostly common enough, may possibly be 

 rather scarce in some parts of the county. It is certainly frequent in 

 much of the country between Plymouth and Dartmoor and in the Teign 

 basin in south Devon, and in the northern division between the Upper 

 Tamar and Okehampton. It is however one of our least generally 

 known roses, and so its exact distribution in the county as a whole is 

 still but imperfectly ascertained. 



R. micrantha Sm. and the two aggregate species R. tomentosa Sm. 

 and R. canina Linn, are so generally distributed that no special localities 

 need be named for them. The numerous varieties of the two latter are 

 also exceedingly well represented. R. arvensis Huds. is quite common ; 

 and in almost every hedge one of the most strikingly beautiful of all our 

 ' dog-roses ' is the very luxuriant pink-flowered R. systyla Bast, which is 

 chiefly southern, although it has been found as far north as Hertfordshire. 

 Allied to this but easily distinguished from it are the very constant 

 varieties or sub-species R. leucochroa Desv. and R. pseudo-rusticana Crep. 

 These seem more thoroughly at home in Devon than in any other 

 English county, the former being common and the latter locally abundant 

 especially in the Teign Valley, where it was first observed in 1877. 

 Both become rare in Dorset, and as yet are almost unknown further 

 north. 



CRYPTOGAMIA 



ACROGENS. VaSCULARES 



FILICES 



The county is remarkable for the luxuriance and beauty of the ferns 

 which abound on hedgebanks and among the rocks, etc. With the 

 object of protecting these and other interesting plants the Devon County 



96 



