Page:VCH Worcestershire 1.djvu/77

BOTANY river, and rise suddenly from the lower land, which was formerly unenclosed, and known as Malvern Chase. The Worcestershire Beacon, the hill immediately behind Great Malvern, is the highest point in the range, which is chiefly composed of syenite. To the north of the Malverns is a series of eminences composed of Upper Silurian rocks, capped in places with Permian, which includes the hills of Ankerdine, Berrow and Woodbury, and curves round by the Abberley Hills to the east, while to the west of this range is the Old Red Sandstone district of Worcestershire. Lime-loving plants are found on these eminences, including Clematis Vttalba, Anthyllis Vulneraria and Onobrychis sativa, which do not stray far on to the red marl. Malvern Hills themselves are bare, and covered with close-cropped turf, affording little that is peculiar to their circumstances. Sedum album was found only in the county in a native condition on these hills, and Potentilla "verna is also thus limited. The bilberry grows only sparsely, and heather is un- common. On the different commons on the low ground that still represent Malvern Chase several damp spots afford aquatic plants, but many have disappeared on account of the enclosure and cultivation of the greater part of the district. In the south-east part of Worcestershire a country of quite a different character is entered upon. Most of it is on the Lias formation, while Broadway and Bredon Hills are capped with Oolite. Through this district meanders the Avon, differing from Severn and Teme in the fact that its waters are always bank high, while the other two rivers have cut for themselves deep channels in which they flow. The valley of the Severn is bounded on the east in the middle part of its course through the county by a bold escarpment of marl on which rest Lias limestones and shales, and behind which the limestone crops out in lower ridges, the western faces of which are usually thickly clothed with trees and underwood, in which Viburnum Lantana is plentiful. The plants of the higher parts of the district about Bredon and Broadway belong nearly entirely to the flora of the Cotswolds. Such are Astragalus hypoglottis, Hippocrepis comosa and Asperula cynanchica. Cnicus acaulis. Reseda lutea and Linaria minor are also characteristic of the same locality. The Lias stretches as far north in the county as Hanbury, and penetrates the Red Marl in two tall narrow peaks, which join towards the south, and widen out into a broad belt of surface. NOTES ON THE BOTANICAL DISTRICTS Worcestershire is divided into four botanical districts : (i.) Avon ; (ii.) Severn ; (iii.) Mal- vern ; (iv.) Lickey. In a great measure these divisions are purely artificial ; they are formed virithout regard to geological structure, and their boundaries are difficult to follow, and pay no respect to the water-partings of the several rivers. (i.) The Avon district comprises the south-eastern portion of the county. Its northern limit on the county boundary is reached at Headless Cross, near Redditch, and continues north-westerly along the Bromsgrove road to the point where this crosses the Birmingham canal, along which the boundary proceeds in a south-westerly direction as far as Oddingley. 39