BOTANICAL NOTES. 



BY E. D. MARQUAND, A.L.S. 



Sevex years have elapsed since the publication in 1901 

 of my Flora of Guernsey and the Lesacr Chunncl Islands. 

 After that date all unrecorded plants, both phanerogamic and 

 crjptogamic, discovered within our area have been regularly 

 noted in the Transactions of this Society, either in the 

 Annual Sectional Reports, or in separate botanical papers. 

 But a considerable amount of fresh matter has been accu- 

 mulated since the Flora, was written, concerning the local 

 range and distribution of more or less scarce species already 

 on record, not a few of which are now rapidly becoming 

 extinct. 



In most parts of rural England but little change is 

 perceptible in the natural flora of a district even in the course 

 of a century, but it is not so in Guernsey. The area is 

 so small and so circumscribed that the changes resulting from 

 extensive building, quarrying and drainage, are far more 

 serious than would be the case in an average English county. 

 The draining of a marsh, the opening up of a new quarry, or 

 the erection of a few greenhouses may mean, and often does 

 mean, the complete extirpation of one or more of the 

 great prizes of our native flora. And then again, the 

 deplorable destruction of trees and tall hedges which has been 

 going on for some years all over the island, is very largely 

 affecting the smaller vegetation that needs shelter, shade and 

 moisture. 



In Alderney, Sark and Herm the face of the land 

 has undergone much less change during the past fifty years, 

 but we cannot tell how soon these peaceful islands may 

 become teeming holiday resorts. Therefore it is well to 

 preserve, while we are able, a record of whatever may be 

 of interest and value in years to come. 



An examination of two or three collections of Guernsey 

 plants made during the first half of the nineteenth century, 

 notably one of Flowering Plants belonging to the late Miss 

 Guille, and one of Lichens belonging to the late Mrs. W. 

 Collings, of Sark, has furnished much important information in 



