BOTANY Wye, as marked with sufBcient exactness by the main road from Monmouth to Hereford, while its northern end is determined by the Worm Brook. The district consists chiefly of the Cornstone series of the Old Red Sandstone, rising at Garway Hill to an elevation of 1,203 ^'- '^^^ botanical features of the district are not especially remarkable ; the English catchfly (Silene anglica) is found in sandy fields in St. Weonards parish, and several interesting brambles at Welsh Newton [Rubus hlrtifollus var. mollissimus, R. fuscus forma, and R. fusco-ater), and Rubus sciaphilus at St. Weonards ; the blue pimpernel [Anagallis aruensis, var. caerulea) on the borders of Monmouthshire in the parishes of Garway and Welsh Newton ; a pond weed rare in the county (JPotamogeton obtusifolius) in Llan- garren parish ; several orchids of interest [Habenaria conopsea viridis and bifolia) are abundant in the hilly parts. One of the most noticeable features of the flora is the abundance of the snowdrop [Galanthus nivalis) in the woods of the parishes of Garway and St. Weonards — here it is believed to be truly native. The local wood-rush, Luzula Forsteri, is abundant in this district. The following list comprises the most noteworthy species of flowering plants : — Ranunculus hirsutus, Crantz Viola canlna, L. Silene anglica, L. Cerastium quaternellum, Fenzl. Linum angustifolium, L. Rubus argenteus, W. & N. — nemoralis, P. J. Muell. — Selmeri, Lindeb. — sciaphilus, Lange — leucandrus, Focke — hirtifolius, Muell. & Wirtg., var. mollissimus (Rogers) — Borreri, Bell Salt. Rubus podophyllus, P. J. Muell. — scaber, W. & N. — fuscus, W. & N., f. hirsutissima — pallidas, W. & N. — fusco-ater, W. — divexiramus, P. J. Muell. — dumetorum, W. & N., var. britannicus (Rogers) Chrysosplenium alternifolium, L. Dipsacus pilosus, L. Anagallis arvensis, L., var. caerulea, Schreb. Habenaria conopsea, Benth. — viridis, R. Br. — bifolia, R. Br. Neottia nidus-avis, L. Galanthus nivalis, L. Luzula Forsteri, DC. Potamogeton obtusifolius, Mert. & Koch Scirpus lacustris, L. Carex Pseudo-cyperus, L. Alopecurus geniculatus, L., sub-sp. fulvus, Sm. 2. Ross This district consists mainly of the valley of the Wye, from the borders of Gloucestershire on the south to Aconbury Hill (905 ft.) and Mordiford on the north. On the west it bounds upon St. Weonards district ; on the north it follows the northern flank of Aconbury Hill and thence along the course of a small brook to the Wye, crossing which at Mordiford it follows the old Hereford and Gloucester road to the county boundary near the Lea. In addition to the Old Red Sandstone and the alluvium of the Wye, which occupies its greater part, this district is so delineated as to include the limestone region of the Doward Hills and an outlier of the Coal Measures of the Forest of Dean in Howie Hill. The Ross district takes precedence of all the rest of the county in the number of interesting plants found in it. This botanical richness is due in large measure to the Doward Hills, which are undoubtedly, considering the smallness of their area, far the richest portion of the county. The Wye also contributes in this, its lowest portion in the county, several plants of great interest. To mention first a few of the interesting plants of the Dowards. Here are found the two hellebores {Helleborus viridis and foetidus), the rock hutchinsia [Hutchinsia petraea), the large-leaved lime [Tilia platyphyllos), the bloody cranesbill {Geranium sanguineum), the horse-shoe vetch {Hippocrepis comosa), a rare wild pear {Pyrus cordata two rare whitebeams [Pyrus rotundifolia and intermedia), the madder [Rubia peregrina), the mountain everlasting {Antennaria dioica), several rare hawk-weeds, one of them, so far as is known, confined to the Wye valley [Hieracium lasiophyllum, planifolium, stenolepis and pachyphyllum), yellow bird's-nest (Hypopithys multijlora), deadly night-shade {Atropa Belladonna), a rare marjoram [Origanum megastachyum), fly-orchis [Ophrys muscifera), the two white helleborines [Cephalanthera pallens and ensifolia), three local and rare sedges [Carex digitata humilis and montana), and the drooping melic-grass [Melica nutans). Among the more striking river plants may be mentioned the following : — The floating water-crowfoot [Ranunculus fluitans), a rare winter-cress [Barbarea stricta), a bramble, almost confined in Herefordshire to the valley of the Wye [Rubus imbricatus), a rare water-starwort [Callitriche vernalis), a rare persicaria [Polygonum mite), a rare hybrid willow [Salix hippophaefolia), and the very rare pond-weed, Potamogeton salignus. Many rare and local brambles occur in different parts of this district. The wooded hills round Aconbury are clothed with Rubus Salteri ; those in the neighbourhood of Ross with R. anglosaxonicus and its varieties vestitiformis and setulosus ; on the Coal Measures of Howie Hill, Rubus thyrsoideus, Colemanni, rudis, pallidus var. leptopetalus, hirtus yzx. flaccidifolius, and other interesting forms occur. Here alone in the county the very handsome Rubus cavatifolius, so abundant in Monmouthshire, is found ; but perhaps the most interesting feature of the bramble flora of the district is the abundance and luxuriance in the neighbourhood of Ross, and there only, of Rubus Purchasianus. The caper spurge 43
