Page:VCH Warwickshire 1.djvu/90

 A HISTORY OF WARWICKSHIRE Staffordshire) the Warwickshire list of mosses compares favourably with that of any of the surrounding counties. The county is poor in limestone rocks, so that lime-loving species are only found on the mud-capped walls of the lias districts in the Avon valley, or on the mortar of old walls in other portions of the county. The mortar of an old wall near Hatton is the only British locality where the lime-loving Grimmia crinita is to be found. The woodlands are extensive. In the Avon basin their soils are usually marl or clay, and yield many plants of interest, such as Hypnum brevirostre. In the more northern woods the soils are usually peaty in character, yielding a rich abundance of the more common species, such as many of the Sphagnum* and rarely Dicranum montanum, which was first recorded from a Warwickshire wood as a British species. Trees growing in fields and hedges are a noticeable feature in the county, and are often tenanted by some of the rarer Tortuli, as T. papillosa, the beau- tiful Cryphaa heteromalla and the rare Orthotricbum obtusifolium. Heath- lands are of small extent, those of Sutton, Coleshill and Kenilworth being the most extensive. A small expanse of heathland occurs near Great Wolford, yielding many of the commoner ericetal species, and from this locality Dicranum undulatum was first recorded as a British species. The rivers are usually softly flowing and full of beauty, but their alluvial banks are not rich in moss vegetation. The water-washed roots of the trees and shrubs that fringe their banks, however, are often clad with mosses both rare and common. The total list of the moss flora of Warwickshire amounts to 240 species, and this is probably an exhaustive record. Comparing the Warwickshire moss flora with that of the neighbouring counties, we find that Oxfordshire has 193 species, Northamptonshire has 220 species, Leicestershire has 180 species, Staffordshire has 276 species, but in this county there are mountainous rocks and a large area of moor and bog, many rapid streams, and limestone in abundance. Worcestershire has 276 species, but has not been exhaustively examined. In order to show roughly the distribution of the mosses enumerated, the county has been divided into the two districts watered by the rivers (i) the Tame, (2) the Severn, and the numbers made use of in the list following refer to these districts respectively. Sphagnum cymbifolium, Ehrh. i, var. squarrosulum, N. & H. var. congestum, Schp. i papillosum, Ldb. i var. confertum, Ldb. i - subsecundum, Nees. I, 2 var. contortum, Schp. i, 2 var. obesum, Schp. i, 2 var. viriJe, Boul. I, 2 - teres. Var. subteres, Dixon. - *squarrosum, Pen. i - acutifolium, Ehrh. i var. rubellum, Russ. i var. patulum, Schp. i Sphagnum Girgensohnii, Russ. I fimbriatum, Wilt, i - intermedium, Hoffm. i - cuspidatum, Ehrh. i Tetraphis pellucida, Hedw. I, 2 Catharinea undulata, W. & M. var. minor, W. & M. i var. Haussknechtii, Dixon. Polytrichum nanum, Neck, i, 2 var. longisetum, Ldb. 2 aloides, Hedw. i, 2 var. Dichoni, Wallm. I urnigerum, L. I piliferum, Schreb. i, 2 I, 2