Page:VCH Kent 1.djvu/95

 BOTANY AS would naturally be expected, from its proximity to the continent, Kent possesses a remarkably rich flora, probably unrivalled in number of species by any other counties except Hampshire and Sussex. The latter has not yet been thoroughly explored, in spite of its general accessibility. Its critical plants, such as the brambles and hawkweeds, are still imperfectly known ; and its much longer stretch of coast, together with its milder and "warmer cHmate, permitting the survival of such western species as the Cornish money- wort {Sibthorpia europced)^ Bartsia viscosa, etc., give it certain advantages in this respect, as compared with its eastern neighbour : so that, when the botany of both has been more minutely investigated, it is reasonable to suppose that Sussex will hold pride of place. Kent is proverbially ' the garden of England,' but as regards at least the north-west portion it might more appropriately be called England's ' market-garden,' so considerable is the area devoted to raising fruit and vegetables. This preponderance of cultivation has caused a great disturbance of native plants ; at the same time, there has been a compensating invasion of colonists and casuals, particularly in the sub- urban districts. Although there is still a fairly large area of heathy wastes, they are less extensive than those of Surrey ; nor, with the exception of its chalk country, the richness of which is unequalled in Britain, and its littoral and estuarine preponderance, is Kentish botany, upon the whole, of equal interest to the explorer. At the same time, there is (we believe) no county where so many species can be observed during the course of a day's ramble in a few favoured spots, such as the valley of the Medway above Rochester. In our recently published work ^ we estimated the total number of species (including Characea, here treated among the Alga), not reckoning mere casuals or garden waifs, at about i,i6o, 1,014 being considered as likely natives. This census is on the basis of the London Catalogue, ninth edition, in which a large number of critical species are admitted to equal rank with those of whose distinctness there is no question ; a mode of treatment which is certainly open to some objection, but which seems, in the present state of knowledge, to be the best preparation for a system of grouping which cannot be successfully undertaken as yet. A few interesting additions have already been made, and others will no doubt > Flora of Kent, by Frederick Janson Hanbury and Edward Shearburn Marshall (1899 : F.J. Hanbury, 37 Lombard Street, E.G., price iz/. 6d.). 45