STATIC E LIMONIUM ON THE NORTH BANK 
OF THE HUMBER. 
9 
T. PETCH, B.A., B.SC. 
In 1901, the finding of a panicle of Statice Limonium on the 
Holderness coast led the writer to search for that plant on 
the Yorkshire side of the Humber. At that time there were 
old records of Statice Limonium for the East Riding, but 
local botanists were not acquainted with it as an East Riding 
plant. A note on its prevalence on the Humber shore was 
published in The Transactions of the Hull Scientific Club for 
1901 (p. 234), apd further investigations were made during 
the next three years. My departure from the country put an 
end to these before much had resulted which warranted 
publication. One or two points, however, emerged, which 
have not been subsequently noted ; and it is possible that 
these may prove of interest. The record, too, of the distri- 
bution of Statice on the Holderness coast in 1901-04, may 
prove useful for comparison with later conditions. 
To understand the distribution of Statice on the north 
bank of the Humber, and the varying descriptions which 
have been given from time to time of that foreshore, it must 
be remembered that with the exception of a short distance at 
Pauli, where the Humber cuts into the morainic hill there, 
the whole of the land bordering the Humber between Hull 
and Kilnsea is reclaimed land, and the tidal water is kept 
from overflowing the country by an artificial bank, main- 
tained at. a height, I believe, of 17 ft. O.D. From Hull to 
•Cherry Cob Sands the bank is an ancient one (except, perhaps, 
at Saltend Common). Then comes Cherry Cob Sands, a 
reclamation of 1770 ; and that is immediately succeeded by 
Sunk Island, the last part of which was enclosed about 1897. 
From Welwick to Easington the bank is again an ancient one. 
In reclaiming land, both on the Humber and the Wash, 
the old practice was to enclose saltmarsh or ‘ growths ’ only. 
The reclaimer watched the foreshore gradually silt up until 
it grew Marsh Samphire, Aster, Sea Lavender, and Atriplex, 
and finally, attained such a height that the part nearest the 
mainland became pasture (outstray), only submerged at the 
highest spring tides. It was a slow business ; fifty years 
elapsed between the last two reclamations on Sunk Island, 
and nearly the same length of time between the last two on the 
eastern side of the Wash. It was an axiom that it did not pay 
to enclose bare mud. Newly-enclosed land usually consisted 
• over at least half its area of grass -land— salt pasture— while 
the remainder was well-grown saltmarsh. 
The artificial bank was usually made straight for as long 
U922 Jan. 1 
