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REV. F. W. OALPIN ON THE FLORA OF HARLESTON. 
X. 
THE FLOE A OF IIAELESTOX AND IT8 
XEIGHBOIJEHOOD. 
By the Eev. F. W. Galfin, j\LA. 
Read 2 yd February, 1886. 
The subject of tliis paper is the Flora of a small district of Soutli 
Norfolk, in so far as it is represented by its llowering plants and 
ferns. Tiro town of Harleston, its centre, occupies a position on 
tlie border of the county, tbougb not actually situated in the 
Waveney Valley, but a little to the north, on the slope of a shallow 
depression through which runs a small brook, taking its rise near 
Long Stratton and joining the border river at Homersfield. The 
surrounding country lies wh^ly within the area of the Great 
Boulder Clay : but this Clay, though it covers all the high lands to 
a considerable depth, has been so largely denuded in the valleys of 
the Waveney and its tributary streams, that on their Hanks are 
exposed — to the gratification of local botanists — the line sands of 
the Middle Drift. 
With this geological formation the natural features of the 
district correspond. To the north of the town there is a long 
stretch of upland intersected by only a few streams, fairly timbered, 
and almost wholly under cultivation. To the east, following the 
course of the brook, there is meadow land crossed by narrow 
ditches, and gradually assuming the character of the broad river 
valley into Avhich it merges about two and a half miles from the 
town. Toward the south the Clay terminates in an abrupt descent 
into the alluvial flats of the Waveney Valley. This valley is, on 
an average, nearly a mile across, though its original limits are now 
in places obscured by shelving banks of gravel, the accumulated 
