
34 FLOWERING PLANTS 
CHAPTER V 
FIELD WORK ON ECOLOGY 
TuE following observations, most of which have been tested 
and found practicable, are suggested : - 
I. To ascertain the Vegetation of a district, say of a given 
moor or wood— 
(a) The first thing is to ascertain what the dominant plani 
is—in the case of a wood, whether the prevailing tree is beech, 
oak, fir, etc. ; in the case of a moor, whether it is heather or 
grass, etc., and if so, which species. 
(b) This will lead to the mapping out of the given district 
into areas. It may be found in the case of a wood that, 
although the prevailing tree is beech, in some parts of the 
wood where the trees have been less thickly planted there 
are shrubs forming a thick undergrowth, and in any case 
the fringe of the wood will yield different results; thus there 
would probably be at least three areas in a beech-wood which 
would yield three different Plant Associations : 
(i.) Area of wood where the trees are thick ; 
(i1.) Area of wood where the trees are thin and under- 
growth considerable ; 
(iii.) Area along fringe of wood. 
(c) Having mapped out the district into areas, these should 
be indicated on the spot on a good field-map. The Ordnance 
Survey maps are the best to use. The scale of the map will 
depend on the number of areas determined on in the district 
selected, and the extent of each. In the case of woods, the 
scale of 25 inches to the mile is the best, as the paths are 
marked and the kind of tree. Every plant found should be 
recorded on the spot in a note-book kept entirely for field * 
_ work, with the exact date of finding, 
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