Cryptogamic Vegetation of the Sand-Dunes of the West Coast of England

Abstract

In the sand-dune formation bryophytes and lichens are so prominent that any attempt to deal with its ecology is very conspicuously incomplete unless this vegetation be taken into account. The bryophytes and lichens are not only important in forming humus and so preparing the ground for the higher plants, but they are characteristic and sometimes dominant partners in the different associations belonging to the formation. The purpose of this paper is to give some account of the noni-vascular plants characteristic of sand-dunes, and the phanerogamic constituents of the various associations will only be introduced where it is necessary to enable the reader to gain a comprehe-isive view of the associated plants and to correlate these results with those of previous workers (3, 4, 5, 6, .10). My investigations have been carried on for many years and on a great length of coast-line, extending from Bude in Cornwall to Seascale in Cumberland. The dunes occurring within this area have many features in common, so that only those at Braunton in Devon and Burnham in Somerset will be dealt with in detail. The dunes of Lancashire are the most extensive ones on our coasts, but their natural characters have been somewhat interfered with during recent years by drainage and planting, and though their Brya and Harpidia associations are superior to those of any other dunes in this country, they are very poor in lichens and are in some respects less natural than those of N. Devon.