Wild Flowers of Chalk and Limestone
Wild Flowers of Chalk and Limestone will urge many to follow in the author’s footsteps in search of the rich flora which make our chalk downs and limestone cliffs so fascinating to explore. This edition is exclusive to newnaturalists.comFew areas can boast so many rare and beautiful wild flowers as those of the chalk and limestone. Few areas, too, have so much lovely scenery in which to search them out. Mr. Lousley’s vivid and authoritative presentation of his subject shows that he has made full use of these opportunities. His special affection is for the woods and chalk downs of south-eastern England, of which he has a knowledge almost unsurpassed.Nevertheless, in this book he has also given us an admirable survey of all the important limestone regions in the country from the Devonian formation at Berry Head to the oolite of the Cotswolds and the great carboniferous stretches of the north. This book will urge many to follow in the author’s footsteps in search of the rich flora which make our chalk downs and limestone cliffs so fascinating to explore.
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Collins New Naturalist Library
16
Wild Flowers of Chalk & Limestone
J. E. Lousley
JOHN GILMOUR, M.A., V.M.H.
SIR JULIAN HUXLEY, M.A., D.Sc., F.R.S.
MARGARET DAVIES, M.A., Ph.D.
KENNETH MELLANBY, C.B.E., Sc.D.
PHOTOGRAPHIC EDITOR:
ERIC HOSKING, F.R.P.S.
The aim of this series is to interest the general reader in the wild life of Britain by recapturing the inquiring spirit of the old naturalists. The Editors believe that the natural pride of the British public in the native fauna and flora, to which must be added concern for their conservation, is best fostered by maintaining a high standard of accuracy combined with clarity of exposition in presenting the results of modern scientific research. The plants and animals are described in relation to their homes and habitats and are portrayed in the full beauty of their natural colours, by the latest methods of colour photography and reproduction.
To the memory of my
great-great-grandfather
JOB LOUSLEY (1790â1855)
who loved the Berkshire downs, and added
to our knowledge of their flora
Table of Contents
CHAPTER 1 FLOWERS, AND CHALK AND LIMESTONE SOILS
CHAPTER 2 BOX HILL: THE COMMON FLOWERS OF CHALK
CHAPTER 3 BOX HILL: THE ECOLOGY OF THE CHALK
CHAPTER 4 THE NORTH DOWNS
CHAPTER 5 THE SOUTH DOWNS AND THE ISLE OF WIGHT
CHAPTER 6 OTHER CHALKLANDS SOUTH OF THE THAMES
CHAPTER 7 CHALKLANDS NORTH OF THE THAMES
CHAPTER 8 LIMESTONES OF SOUTH-WEST ENGLAND
CHAPTER 9 THE JURASSIC LIMESTONES
CHAPTER 10 LIMESTONES OF WALES AND THE WELSH BORDER
CHAPTER 11 THE DERBYSHIRE DALES
CHAPTER 12 THE MAGNESIAN LIMESTONE
CHAPTER 13 CRAVEN IN YORKSHIRE
CHAPTER 14 OTHER LIMESTONE DISTRICTS OF NORTH ENGLAND
CHAPTER 15 LIMESTONES OF SCOTLAND AND IRELAND
CHAPTER 16 SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION
MAPS SHOWING THE RANGE OF SOME OF THE LESS WIDESPREAD PLANTS OF CHALK AND LIMESTONE
DURING THE last two hundred years, successive armies of amateur field botanists have, by their exertions, helped to make the wild flora of Britain the best known of any country in the world. Mr. J. E. Lousley is one of the leading present-day representatives of this great amateur tradition. He lives and works in London and has developed a special affection forâand a unique knowledge ofâthe chalk downs and beech woods so typical of South-eastern England. Knowing this âweaknessâ of his we decided to ask him to undertake the first of a series of NEW NATURALIST books on the wild flowers of particular habitatsâand the present volume on chalk and limestone is the result. Though the south-eastern chalk is a favourite week-end field of operations for Mr. Lousley, it is obvious that he has also visited and studied most of the other important limestone areas in Britain, from the Devonian limestones of Devon to the Oolite of the Cotswolds and the great areas of Carboniferous Limestone in the north. He has revisited most of the areas described while writing his book. During his wanderings he has been fully awake to the ecological background against which any worth-while study of plants must be made, as is well brought out in his book, but it is the flowers themselvesâthe peculiarities of their distribution, the characters which distinguish them from their allies, and the history of their discovery in Britainâthat fill the centre of his vision and provide the inspiration of his book.
Very few types of habitat can boast a larger proportion of rare and beautiful wild flowers than the limestoneânor more lovely scenery in which to search them outâand Mr. Lousley has undoubtedly taken hold of his opportunities with both hands. His book will, we hope, inspire many to follow in his footsteps across the thyme-scented chalk uplands, through the green shades of the Cotswold beechwoods, or across the limestone pavements of the north, and to learn something of the rich flora that makes them so fascinating to explore.
THE EDITORS
I HAVE WRITTEN this book as an amateur for amateurs in the belief that first-hand experiences are likely to be of greatest interest to field naturalists. Most of the places described have been revisited since the end of the recent war to confirm or elaborate earlier notes which in some cases proved to be out of date.
Limits of space have dictated the omission of much that I wished to say and the task of selection from the available material has proved difficult. If I appear to have given undue prominence to rarities it is because these so often provide the most suitable examples of plant geography and illustrate differences between the habitats better than subtle variations in the proportions and behaviour of the commoner species.
The title has been regarded as including trees and shrubs, since to botanists these are as much flowers (phanerogams) as are the herbs. It would be invidious to omit the few ferns closely associated with calcareous soils. Some maritime flowers have been included as growing on chalk or limestone sea cliffs but, in general, species found on limy soils or rocks at an altitude of over 1000 feet have been treated as mountain flowers and therefore as coming within the scope of another book in the NEW NATURALIST series.
