# FLORA OF DORSETSHIRE, OR A CATALOGUE OF PLANTS FOUND IN THE COUNTY OF DORSET. WITH SKETCHES OF ITS GEOLOGY AND PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY. BY JOHN CLAVELL MANSEL-PLEYDELL, B.A. LATE OF ST. JOHN'S COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE, F.L.S., F.G.S. LONDON: WHITTAKER & CO., AVE MARIA LANE. BLANDFORD: W. SHIPP. DEDICATED TO HEWETT COTTRELL WATSON, ESQ. AUTHOR OF CYBELE BRITANNICA, TOPOGRAPHICAL BOTANY, AND OTHER WORKS, WHICH SET FORTH ONE OF THE MOST INTERESTING BRANCHES OF THE SCIENCE, VIZ. THE GEOGRAPHY OF BRITISH PLANTS, BY HIS SINCERE FRIEND, J. C. MANSEL-PLEYDELL PREFACE. I SHALL be satisfied if the following pages afford some assistance in the study of our native plants; especially with regard to that branch of botanical science which investigates their relation with the plants of other countries and ages. Although the departments of geographical and palæontological botany are still in an imperfect state, our acquaintance with those interesting divisions of the science is daily enlarging through the ever-increasing communication with all parts of the world. The study of Botany is now taking that place in our University courses which will be an additional means towards raising it above the limited sphere of an acquaintance only with the name and facies of a plant to the more comprehensive view of its affinity with the general vegetation of our globe. Its application to agriculture, and a careful examination into the chemistry of plants by eminent men, such as Liebig, Johnston, and others, have led to important and useful results. Several of our English counties are already furnished with local Floras; one is nearly completed for Wiltshire by Mr. Flower, and another, for the neighbouring county of Hants, is on the eve of its commencement. The Cybele Britannica, and subsequent works, by Mr. Hewett C. Watson, comprising six 8vo volumes, give a valuable history of every British plant, and its extension beyond the limits of our island. Cybele Hibernica, by Messrs. Moore and More, follows Mr. Watson's plan with regard to the |