The Woodlands of England. 129 
(■Sanicula europcea). Of later flowering species, there are the wood 
grasses, Brachypodium sylvaticum , Melica uni flora, Milium effusum, 
Bramus asper, and Festuca gigantea, the wood rushes Luzula maxima 
and L. vernalis, the wood dock ( Rumex viridis), herb-robert 
(Geranium Robertianum), the bush vetch (Vicia sepium), the common 
willow-herb ( Epilobium montanum), the wood loose-strife ( Lysi- 
macliia nemorum), and the less common moneywort (L, Nummuhtria). 
To these may be added meadow-sweet ( Spinea Ulmaria), the wood 
avens or herb-bennet ( Geum urbauum), Angelica sylvestris, bugle 
(Ajuga reptans), wood betony (Stachys Betonica), self-heal (Prunella 
vulgaris), great valerian (Valeriana sambucifolia), the devil’s bit 
scabious (Scabiosa Succisa), burdock (Arctium spp.), and Cnicus 
palustris. Of ferns, the male fern (Lastrcea Filix-mas) is on the 
whole the commonest; indeed it is the only fern at all abundant in 
the woods of southern and eastern England, with the exception of 
the bracken (Pteris aquilina), which is confined to those woods of 
the damp type which have a fairly light loamy soil; but in these it 
is locally extremely abundant. In the west and north of England, 
several other ferns are abundant, no doubt in consequence of the 
damper and milder climate. These include the lady fern (Athyrium 
Filix-fcemina), the broad buckler fern (Lastrcea dilatata), with the 
closely allied L. spinulosa, and the sweet mountain fern (L. 
montana=L. Oreopteris). 
Some of the oakwoods with a very wet surface soil, as in 
north Wales and in parts of Ireland, have a ground flora in which 
mosses are dominant, e.g., species of Hypnum, Dicranum, Milium, 
Atrichum undulatum, with local societies of bog-moss (Sphagnum) 
and such species of wet soil as the Marsh Violet (Viola palustris). A 
peaty soil tends to accumulate in woods of this type, and sometimes 
such peat-loving plants as the Bilberry (Vaccinium Myrtillus) 
become dominant. These woods have not yet been thoroughly 
studied, but it seems likely that they bear somewhat the same 
relation to moorland vegetation as the dry oakwoods, in which a 
heathy flora is increasing, bear to typical heath vegetation (see pp. 
131-135). 
The damp oakwoods are connected by every gradation with 
dry oakwoods, as the soils vary through the lighter loams and the 
finer sands to the more coarsely grained sandstones, grits, etc. As 
has already been pointed out, however, a very damp climate may 
counteract the effect of more coarsely grained soil and thus lead to 
the occurrence of the damp oakwood communities on these soils of 
coarser texture. 
