Heaili Association on Hindliead Common. 
r 49 
In preparing the map (Text-fig. 1) the method adopted has been 
that of laying out the ground into 100 feet squares 1 and mapping 
each separately. The part of the area dealt with in the present 
account (cf. the map and the two sections, Text-figs. 1 and 2) comprises 
about half the Hindhead Common proper. It consists of a flat-topped 
central ridge, skirted by two valleys (A and B), each of which is 
traversed by a narrow (little used) pathway ; the broad central ridge 
is totally undisturbed except for a clearing about 12 ft. wide extending 
along its whole length. 2 The two valleys exhibit a gradual downward 
slope towards the south-west and are bounded on one side by the 
steep inclines of the central ridge and on the other side by equally 
steep slopes—as shown in the sections (Text-fig. 2), in which, however, 
the vertical scale is exaggerated. The central ridge has a broad, 
almost flat top, the width of which gradually diminishes in the 
south-westerly direction (cf. especially the sections), where the 
ridge ultimately slopes down rapidly to the path connecting valleys 
A and B. The north-easterly part of this ridge is a broad flat 
plateau and does not begin to slope appreciably in the south-westerly 
direction until a point about 1,000 ft. from the top of the area shown 
in the map is reached; after that the slope towards the south-west 
is very gradual for a time, until near the end of the ridge a steep 
incline leads down to the path connecting valleys A and B at the 
extreme south-west end of the area. 
A.— Constitution of the Heath-Vegetation. 
The valleys are partly occupied by a dense growth of tall Ulex 
europceus with very extensive tracts of high-growing bracken 
(Pteridium aquilinwn) ; intermingled are a number of other woody 
species (especially RJiamnns Frangula and Ulex minor), together 
with a considerable number of herbaceous forms (cf. below, p. 156). 
The distribution of Ulex europceus on the area concerned quite 
agrees with other observations on the occurrence of this species on 
heaths. 3 It is practically confined to the neighbourhood of the 
pathways, from which however at some points it extends for some 
distance upwards on to the slopes of the valleys. A very few isolated 
patches are found on the top of the ridge, their presence there being 
at present difficult to explain; but these patches are really quite 
1 Oliver, F. W., and Tansley, A. G. “ Methods of surveying vegetation 
on a large scale.” New Phytologist, Vol. Ill, 1904. 
3 A second smaller clearing (not shown in the map) was made in the 
autumn of 1911. 
* Tansley, ‘‘Types of British Vegetation,” 1911, pp. 105-106. Cytisus 
scoparius shows a similar, but more limited distribution, being found only in the 
lower part of valley A on either side of the pathway. 
