The Flora of Warwickshire

Abstract

THE interest to outsiders in the plants of Warwickshire lies in the fact that we have here a typical English Midland county, the botany of which is not in any way affected by proximity to the sea or high mountains. Although it is the central county of England, and forms the watershed of the Severn, Trent, and Thames, no portion of its surface rises above 855 feet. Its area is 885 square miles, or 566,458 acres, and it contains 4 hundreds, 2 cities, I county town, 10 market towns, and 209 parishes. In 1888 the crops of corn, beans, and peas occupied 106,000 acres; green crops, 38,602 acres; permanent pasture land, 312,000 acres; fallow, 8161 acres; and woodland, 16,650 acres. The soils are fertile, but varied, comprising nearly all kinds but those containing chalk and flints. All the southern and south-eastern part of the county is occupied by a strong clay resting on limestone. A soil of similar kind occupies the north-west. Over a large portion of the county, extending from Warwick to its western boundary, are strong clay loams resting on marl and limestone. Westward and south-westward of Warwick there is a strong clay over limestone. About Rugby and in the valleys of the Blythe and Tame are light sandy soils mixed with gravel. The remaining extensive portions of the county consist of a red sandy loam and a red clay loam, resting on freestone or limestone, and sometimes on gravel. The extent of unin-closed land is very inconsiderable, the only extensive commons being those of Sutton Coldfield and Yanin-gale. The subjacent sedimentary rocks begin with the Cambrian and end with the Inferior Oolite, with a little volcanic tuff with intrusions of diabase and quartz porphyry in the north-east, near Atherstone.

The Flora of Warwickshire.

“The Flowering Plants, Ferns, Mosses, and Lichens,” by James E. Bagnall., Associate of the Linnean Society.” “The Fungi,” by W. B. Grove, M.A., and J. E. Bagnall. 518 + 34 pages, with a Map. (London: Gurney and Jackson. Birmingham: Cornish Brothers, 1890.)