392 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



THE PRESERVATION OF OUR WILD PLANTS. 



By G. S. Boulger, F.L.S., F.G.S., F.R.H.S., Lecturer on Botany, 

 City of London College ; Editor of Nature Notes. 



Though Shakespeare did for a moment describe the work of the gardener 

 as "an art which does mend Nature," he hastens to correct his phrase to 

 "change it rather." Thus, though we are largely interested in plants 

 which, under cultivation, have widely departed from their original con- 

 dition, we must, as horticulturists, still retain considerable interest in 

 wild species. Many of the flowers in our gardens, or even the orchids 

 and other valuable exotics in our stoves, or some of the esculents that we 

 have cultivated for some little time, have departed little, if at all, from 

 their wild state. Not to speak of the Pelargoniums of South Africa, the 

 CactacecB or arborescent Ericads of America, or the bulbs from the 

 Mediterranean area, a good many British plants, more or less uncommon 

 in a wild state, are frequently grown — in an unaltered condition — in our 

 gardens. Most of our British ferns, several species of Thalictrum, 

 Saxifraga, and Linaria, our Trollius and Menyanthes, Anemone 

 Pulsatilla, Geranium sanguineum, Campanula glomerata f and Primula 

 farinosa, may be cited as examples ; whilst the spread of the taste for 

 wild gardens has naturally led to the extended use of such species as the 

 Primrose, Foxglove, and Woodruff. From a more or less selfish stand- 

 point, therefore, the gardener should be interested in the preservation 

 of our indigenous flora from all danger of extermination, and I may be 

 justified in arguing this matter before the Royal Horticultural Society. 

 I may, however, mention in passing that the subject has been forced upon 

 my attention during the last three years by facts that have come to my 

 knowledge as editor of Nature Notes, the organ of the Selborne Society, 

 and by correspondence in the general and in the horticultural Press. I 

 wish also, before stating even the main lines of my inquiry, to disclaim 

 any view so narrow as an interest only in the wild plants of the British 

 Isles. We cannot consistently plead for consideration for the beauties 

 of our own country-side and the claims that our posterity has to receive 

 them from us undiminished if, at the same time, we are to disregard the 

 fact that the people of Switzerland, Italy, Portugal, Greece, South Africa 

 South America, or any other country have a like inalienable heritage. 

 Our charity may begin at home, but it must not end there. . 



The first question, then, to which I wish to direct your attention is 

 whether any wild plants are undergoing any serious diminution in their 

 numbers, or are in danger of extermination ; and, if so, under what classes 

 do they fall, and to what various causes is this diminution due ? After 

 considering this, we may deal with the further questions whether it is 

 worth while to take any measures, and, if so, what measures, to check 

 such diminution. 



There are undoubtedly many purely natural agencies by which the 

 character of the vegetation of any country is constantly undergoing a 



