182 
THE BOTANY OF BIDDULPH. 
June, 1892. 
It may not be amiss if, before proceeding further, I give a 
brief description of this part of Staffordshire. 
I. —The Valley of Biddulph.— This valley is bounded 
on the West by a long hill, Oongleton Edge, along the summit 
of which runs the boundary line between Cheshire and 
Staffordshire, which terminates at its southern extremity in 
Mow Cop Hill (1,091ft.). On the East this valley is bounded 
by hills of various heights, which terminate at Cloud End, in 
Cheshire (1,190ft.). Northwards, this valley gradually slopes 
into Cheshire ; and, southwards, it is cut off from the other 
part of Staffordshire by the high ground which forms the 
watershed between the streams flowing into the Trent and 
those which flow into the Mersey. 
II. —The Valley of the Trent, or, rather, that portion 
of it in which I have worked, extends from what I believe to 
be the source of the Trent on Biddulph Moor, and is locally 
known as Trent Well , to a line drawn across the valley near 
the church of Norton-in-the-Moors. But, inasmuch as the 
real source of the Trent is a debateable point, I have included 
in this division that part of the county through which other 
streams run which are considered by some to be the head¬ 
waters of this river. This division has, therefore, for its 
western boundary a line drawn southwards from Mow Cop 
to Norton, and for its eastern boundary the ridge upon which 
stand the village and church of Brown Edge. 
III. —The Rudyerd Basin.— This runs parallel with the 
Biddulph Valley, being bounded on the north by Cheshire, 
on the west by Lask Edge, on the east by the North Stafford¬ 
shire Railway, and extends southwards to Leek. I have not 
been able to examine the whole of this district, owing to 
its distance from the house in which I lived. 
As the character of a flora depends very much upon the 
geological structure of a district, a brief description of the 
geology of Biddulph and its neighbourhood will not be out of 
place here. 
The Biddulph Valley lies between two ridges of Millstone 
Grit; the northern portion of it lying upon a great bed of 
Drift,* in which recent marine shells have been found ; whilst 
the southern and more elevated portion of it consists of the 
Coal Measures. 
The Trent Valley .—The sources of the Trent are upon 
Millstone Grit; and in its descent, this river runs wholly upon 
the Coal Measures after it has passed through Knypersley 
Reservoir. 
* Memoirs of the Geological Survey, 81 N. W., and 81 S.W., p. 78. 
