On the Interpretation of the Discontinuous Distributions Shown by Certain British Species of Open Habitats

Abstract

This paper represents an attempt to clarify the problem of interpreting the discontinuous distribution in this country of certain flowering plants. At the outset we would apologize for obvious defects and inadequacies in our treatment; but we have felt the need to try to assemble relevant data and to state the hypotheses. So far as we are aware, there exists no recent attempt in the British literature along these lines to present a thesis which, though familiar enough to some workers, is nevertheless clearly neither accepted nor even appreciated by all. It is our hope that this paper may stimulate criticism, discussion, observation and experiment, by means of which the hypotheses may be further tested, and confirmed, modified or replaced. The boundaries of our subject we have found particularly difficult to define; and we have eventually decided to restrict ourselves to a detailed consideration of a small part only of the legitimate field of inquiry, partly because we have here the most information to hand; but we have tried to indicate other problems which are opened up by the discussion in the hope that they may be explored in the future.