The Flora of the East Riding of Yorkshire

Abstract

THE “Flora of the North Riding of Yorkshire,” compiled by Mr. J. G. Baker so long ago as 1863, furnishes a delightful account of the plants and the plant-associations of that division. Dr. F. A. Lees is responsible for a “Flora of the West Riding” which is equally successful. The present work, therefore, fills up an important gap and completes the botanical survey of the county. The enumeration of plants is preceded by a historical review of earlier compilations and a series of sketches referring to the physiography, meteorology and plant distribution of the district. These, taken in combination with the geological map, add greatly to the interest of the book. At the same time, these chapters seem capable of some improvement. The physiographical chapter brings out very clearly the interesting features of the division, the ancient lake-area now represented by a single lake and patches of marsh in the plain of Holdernes, the estuary of the Humber, the Cretaceous formation of the Wolds and the mixed character of the deposits in Derwent-land. But the ecological chapter suffers by being too condensed, and “xerophiles,” “pelophiles,” “arenophiles” are tumbling over one another. The contrast of “xerophiles” and “pelophiles” on pp. 35, 39, represents a confusion of terms. A more detailed and localised account of the plant forms on the different alluvial deposits and an extension of the very brief indication of successive littoral colonies, as well as fuller descriptions of other local formations, might well be given, and the extra space could be more than gained by a less generous use of type and spacing in the flora proper. In the enumeration of plants, the author and his colleagues have endeavoured to sift out the aliens which are especially abundant round Hull Docks, and also the. recorded localities have received personal confirmation as far as possible. The author and the Hull Scientific and Field Naturalists' Club deserve the thanks of botanists for a compilation which represents much hard work and which will serve to stimulate interest in that division of the county, inasmuch as it indicates a somewhat unexpected wealth and variety of plant forms. Mr. J. J. Marshall has furnished a list of the mosses of the Riding.

The Flora of the East Riding of Yorkshire.

By J. F. Robinson. Pp. vii + 253. (London: A. Brown and Sons.) Price 7s. 6d.