Page:VCH Kent 1.djvu/98

 A HISTORY OF KENT to Wye. Wholly chalk. There are large woods between Stouting and Bishopsbourne, as well as between Wye and Chartham. Several of the choicer orchids have their headquarters hereabouts. 8. The west and south boundaries are formed by Surrey and Sussex ; on the north it is bordered by district 2 as far as Snodland, afterwards by district 6 as far as Grey Wethers ; hence by the main road through Maidstone, Marden and Goudhurst to the Sussex boundary near Lamberhurst. A belt of gault occupies the extreme north, just below the chalk, range ; next comes the lower greensand series ; south of this are the Weald clay and the Hastings sands. Here, and in districts 9 and 10, the geological formations run nearly due east and west, with a southerly trend as they approach the sea. The woodlands are chiefly in the north and south of this district. Tunbridge Wells and its neighbour- hood produce many choice plants, and the southern tracts are prolific in brambles. 9. Bounded on the north by district 6, on the west by district 8, and on the south by Sussex, whence it follows the railway from Rye by Appledore and Ashford to Wye. This and the preceding district (of almost equal size) together occupy about a third of the county area. Their geology is much alike, but the gault is at its widest between Ash- ford and Wye, the lower greensand at its narrowest, with a corresponding extension in breadth of the Weald clay. Near Appledore and in the Rother valley alluvial deposits occur. There are some large woods, especially near Cranbrook. The southern sands should produce some novelties ; formerly they were rather difficult of access, but the opening of the new railway has changed this. 10. District 7 lies to the east, and district 9 to the west. On the south-west it touches Sussex for a few miles, having the channel south and east. More than half of its area (the Romney Marsh and Dungeness neighbourhood) is alluvium, shingle or blown sand, the remainder being lower greensand — here broadening out again for some miles — gault and Weald clay. Between Shornecliffe and Dungeness many rarities occur, and the dykes still harbour relics of a considerable marsh vegetation, now much reduced by drainage. The following notes are condensed from Mr. B. Daydon Jackson's very able summary of the history of Kent botany, which he most kindly contributed to the Introduction of our Flora. The first notice of plants in this county is given by ' the father of English botany,' Dr. WilUam Turner, Dean of Wells, in his Names of Herbes (1548), where he mentions Glaucium Jlavum, Brassica oleracea and Crithenum maritimum (referred to in Shakespeare's King Lear) as growing on Dover cliffs ; also the Spanish chestnut and butcher's broom. His Herbal! {1^^1-6%) includes the earliest notice of the seakale [Cranibe maritima). Lobelius and Pena, in their Stirpium Adversaria (1571), added eight species, and the first-named, in his other writings, eight more. 48