Notes on the Geological History of the Recent 
Flora of Britain. 
BY 
CLEMENT REID. 
H AVING had occasion some years since to study the 
plants of our latest Pliocene deposit — the Cromer 
Forest-bed — and more recently the flora of several deposits 
between that ancient period and the present time — I thought 
it would be of interest to collect any information that might 
throw light on the questions : What plants are truly native ? 
What are the variations of climate that the plants show ? 
What can we learn as to differences of geographical dis- 
tribution of the living species in past times ? 
Of course these questions will take many years of work to 
answer, but the material already collected seems of sufficient 
importance to justify the publication of the following notes. 
Instead, therefore, of attempting at present to analyse the 
flora of the different beds or periods, as originally intended, 
these notes have been put together in the form of a record of 
anything that is known of the geological history of each 
species. 
A good many plants have been incidentally recorded from 
old alluvial deposits in archaeological or geological papers, 
but I have commonly found that the specimens were lost, or 
were never preserved, or still more often were never properly 
determined. It has therefore been necessary to confine these 
notes to specimens that I have examined, and which may still 
be found in some collection, so that any mistakes can be 
rectified. The only exceptions are in favour of a few species 
recorded by competent botanists. 
With regard to the beds from which the plants were 
[Annals of Botany, Vol. II. No. VI. August 1888. ] 
