28 2 
Matthews .— The Distribution of certain 
As a working basis, a list of species generally admitted as indigenous 
was compiled from Babington’s ‘ Manual 5 (1904), omitting micro-species of 
critical genera, since our knowledge of their distribution is far from complete. 
But for all the major species the data of distribution are available in Watson’s 
‘ Topographical Botany ’ (1883) and Bennett’s Supplement to that work 
published in 1905 . Since then some new records have accrued, but the 
differences between my own list and that of Druce (1908) or the London 
Catalogue (1908) are not sufficient to affect the general results when mass 
distribution is under consideration. Further, the new additions are not 
likely to affect one area in particular; they will be more or less uniformly 
distributed. 
General Analysis of the British Flora. 
The number of British flowering plants, which alone are dealt with in 
these distribution studies, is 1 , 377 , of which 1,295 occur in England, 1,024 
in Scotland, and 944 in Ireland. These figures themselves indicate 
a diminution in the flora as distance from the Continent increases, and while 
this is true it is well to remember that numerous species occur in Scotland 
or in Ireland which are absent from England. Again, England and 
Scotland share over 100 species which do not extend to Ireland, and 70 
inhabit England and Ireland which are not recorded from Scotland. But of 
plants exhibiting a restricted range by far the largest number appears in 
England and Wales. This limited portion amounts to 266 species, nearly 
20 per cent, of the total. On account of its restricted distribution, a study 
of this ‘ English ’ flora may throw some light on invasions and inward spread 
of plants in Britain as a whole, since we can learn little in this connexion 
from those species which now inhabit the majority, if not all, of the 112 vice¬ 
counties into which the country is divided for topographical statistics. It 
is an attempt to work backwards, as it were, picking up clues where we can 
trom those plants which, whatever the cause, still show a limited range 
within our islands. 
Distribution of 266 ‘English’ Plants. 
For convenience, species restricted to England and Wales will be 
referred to as ‘English’ plants. Their mass distribution is expressed 
cartographically in Diagram 1 , the inset map indicating the European 
distribution of the same group. The bulk of this English portion of our 
flora may have come through France, where over 90 per cent, of it is centred. 
The dispersal within England is then very much what would be expected, 
but when we bear in mind the long period of time during which much 
disturbance of our native flora has occurred, the interesting feature exhibited 
