Cybele Britannica; Or, British Plants And
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This is a reproduction of a library book that was digitized by Google as part of an ongoing effort to preserve the information in books and make it universally accessible. https://books.google.com New Jfnrk (College of Agriculture JU (Cornell lluiiirn-.itti Jthara. N. f . Ctbrurit Date Due blirjry Bureau Cal. No. 1137 Conwll Univeriity Library QK 306.W33 ¥.1 Cybele britannica; or, British plants and 3 1924 003 608 407 l^Jj V, o > \ v >\v.\ ^\ V >i -, >> - \ ' ; -, > >\ \ X \ A ",.v O * \ > i % ;^vv CYBELE BRITANNICA; BRITISH PLANTS, AND THEIR GEOGRAPHICAL RELATIONS. HEWETT COTTRELL WATSON. " There is scarcely any well-informed person, who, if he has but the will, bas not also the power to add something essential to the general stock of knowledge, if he will only observe regularly and methodically some particular class of facts which may most excite his attention, or which his situation may best enable him to study with effect." HERSCHELL. LONDON. PUBLISHED BY LONGMAN & Co. PATERNOSTER BOW. 1847. (5 3 LONDON : PRINTED BV E. NEWMAN, 9, DEVONSHIRE .STREET, BISHOPSGATE STREET. CONTENTS OF VOLUME I. INTRODUCTORY EXPLANATIONS, page 1. Objects of Geographical Botany, 1. — Explanation of the name ' Cybele,' 2. — Comparative neglect of Geographical Botany, 3. — Botanist's Guides, 4. — Same Author's earlier writings, 6. — Reasons for publication, 7. — Explanations of the present work, 8. — Significa tion of the terms ' Area' and ' Census,' 10. — Explana tion of the 'Provinces,' 14. — Ascending or Climatic Zones of plants, 19. — Agrarian and Arctic Regions, 33. — Zones of the Arctic Region, 36. — Zones of the Agrarian Region, 37. — Types of Distribution, 43. — Notice respecting certain views announced to the British Association by Mr. Edward Forbes, 55. EXPLANATIONS OF THE FORMULA, page 56. Index and Nomenclature of the Cybele, 56. — Omission of maps, 57. — Provincial area, 57. — South and North limits of the species, 58. — Estimated census, 58. — Range of latitude and Geographic type, 60. — Region and Zonal range, 61. — Lowest and highest limits, 6 1 . — Range of mean annual temperature, 62. — Civil claims of the species, 63. — Local situations of growth, 65. — Omission of the Geological relations of the species, 67. — Difficulties of preparing the first Cybele, 67, 68. — Request for corrections, 68. — Pro nunciation of the name Cy-be-le, 69. DISTRIBUTION OF SPECIES, page 70. Ranunculaceae, 70. — Nymphaeaceae, 100. — Papa- veraceae, 103. — Fumariaceae, 109. — Cruciferae, 114. — Resedaceae, 168. — Cistaceae, 170.— Violaceac, 174. — Droseraceas, 183. — Polygalaceae, 186.— Frankeniaceas, IV. 186. — Elatinaceae, 188. — Caryophyllaceac, 189. — Lina- ceae, 235. — Malvaceae, 238. — Tiliaceae, 243. — Hyperi- caceae, 245. — Aceraceae, 254. — Geraniaceae, 256. — Bal- saminaceae, 268.— Oxalidaceae, 270.— Celastraceae, 272. — Rhamnaceae, 273. — Leguminosae, 274. — Rosaceae, 330.— Onagraceae, 369.— Haloragiaceae, 377.— Lythra- ceae, 383. — Tamariscaceae, 385. — Cucurbitaceae, 385. — Portulacaceae, 386. — IllecebraceaB, 387. — Berberaceae, 391. — Grossulariaceae, 392. — Crassulaceae, 395. — Saxi- fragaceae, 404. — Araliaceae, 421. — Cornaceae, 421. — Umbelliferae, 423. APPENDIX, page 465. Note explanatory of the resemblance between the ' Types of Distribution ' adopted in this work, and the ' Floras ' of Professor Edward Forbes, page 465. NOTE. — As the title-page of this volume bears the date of 1847, the year of its publication, it may be proper to mention that two-thirds of the volume was printed in 1846. Such being the case, the indicated areas, census, limits, &c. of the species cannot be considered as brought up completely to the state of recorded knowledge at the close of 1846; although most of the habitats published in the course of that year have been taken into account with the other data used in describing the distribution of the spe cies. On page 340, Potentilla rupestris is inadvertently referred to the " English " instead of the " Local type of dis tribution." On page 379, the type (British) and region (Agrarian) of Myriophyllum alterniflorum are omitted. INTRODUCTORY EXPLANATIONS. NATURE makes plants more or less dissimilar in their forms and other physical characters ; and upon the de grees of resemblance which he can trace in those charac ters, MAN founds his technical arrangement of their names and descriptions in books. The actual groupings of plants, seen in the wilds of nature, are totally different from those invented by botanists for the convenience of systematic arrangement. Species which are widely dissimilar in their physical characters, so far from being widely sundered in nature, are frequently found growing in the most neigh bourly proximity ; while other species, which are so similar that they can scarcely be distinguished by any written cha racters, may have their geographical position in countries the most remote, or in soils the most different. The botanist who looks with an observant eye to the floral productions of the earth, as a whole, or to those of any considerable section of its surface, may soon discover almost as much of variety in the distribution of the plants, as is seen among those physical characters of shape or structure, in accordance with which they are technically classified in books. Hence arises the study of Geographical Botany, or in vestigations into the distribution of plants over the surface B INTRODUCTORY EXPLANATIONS. of the earth, as a branch of knowledge distinct from that which is more exclusively concerned with the technical classification and description of species. This study has been variously denominated " Phyto-Geography," " Bota nical Geography," " Geographical Botany," and " Geogra phical Distribution of Plants." These compound names are all of them objectionable ; they are inconveniently long for titles of books, and none of them can be said sufficiently to express the scope of the present work.' The author ventures therefore to substitute the mythological name of CYBELE; that is, the name of a Goddess who was supposed to preside over the productions of the earth. The name of ' Flora' has long been used for those catalogues of plants, in which are described the species of any definite section of the earth ; that of ' Cybele ' appears quite as applicable to one which is intended to show their relations to the earth, as local productions of the ground and climate. Though a knowledge of plants, and a knowledge of their geographical relations, ruay be deemed two distinct subjects of study, yet they were perhaps never wholly disjoined, and there is now certainly an increasing tendency to bring them into closer connexion. On the one side, indeed, it is impossible to disconnect the two kinds of knowledge. The technical botanist often knows species sufficiently well in the herbarium or the garden, although understanding ex tremely little about their geographical relations ; but the- botanical geographer cannot remain unacquainted with species, while investigating their distribution. The latter takes a march forward, beyond the ground of the technical describer, or the student of species ; and before he can do so, he must first pass over that ground ; tarrying upon it awhile, to make himself acquainted with species, their names and synonymcs, and their technical classifications. INTRODUCTORY EXPLANATIONS. 3 Bearing in mind, then, that the study of geographical relations is an advance onward, which cannot be success fully made, unless a fair knowledge of species has been previously acquired, it becomes easy to explain why the distribution of plants has hitherto attracted only a very small share of attention from the botanists of Britain. The great — the very great majority have never attempted or wished to go beyond the ground first occupied. Whether their attention has been restricted to the comparatively narrow field of British botany, or whether it has ranged widely over the flora of the whole earth ; — whether it has been directed to favourite groups of plants, or whether it has sought to compass the whole vegetable world ; in either of these cases, sufficient mental interest and employment have usually been found in the study and description of species, or in then- systematic classification. As this latter kind of knowledge is increased in amount and accuracy, the botanical geographer becomes facilitated in his own studies ; and of course his investigations will be most successful with those plants and those countries, which have been most thoroughly examined by the col lectors and describers of species. Britain and Germany, Sweden and France — countries whose floral productions have been long studied and known — may now be said to have their botanical geographers, as well as their technical describers of plants. And the same department of phytological science is becoming an im- [Mjrtant feature even in the descriptive Floras of countries, the plants of which are now, for the first time, publishing in distinct and complete Floras ; as witness the admirable works on the botany of Russia, of the Canaiies, and of the Antarctic Lands, — respectively, by Lcdebour, Webb, and H ooker. 1 INTRODUCTORY EXPLANATIONS. As yet, however, few British botanists have directed their attention towards the geographical relations of our native plants. We have had general Floras of Britain from Ray, Hudson, Smith, Withering, Gray, Lindley, Hooker, Mac- gillivray, Macreight, Babington and other authors; but nothing like a Cybele has hitherto appeared : unless we ex cept two small volumes which were printed