THE
FLORA
OF
SUFFOLK
P . J. O. TRIST
IN 1953 our President, Lord Cranbrook, suggested that the Society should consider the compilation of a new flora of Suffolk. Since that time, many botanists in the county and numerous visitors to Suffolk have contibuted to the records. The work of co-ordinating these records has fallen on our Honorary Secretary Miss J. C. N. Willis, who has not only held herseif responsible for the onerous task of tabulating the records but has also been involved in a large correspondence verifying records which needed checking. The work of the Honorary Secretary of our Society will never be adequately recorded and we shall for all time be left in her debt for the services she has given. In order to relieve Miss Willis of some of her bĂźrden, the semi-final stages of the collation of records has now been placed in the hands of Mr. F. W. Simpson.
,
If one or a few people are involved in the compilation of a flora, the numerous facets of the work are simplified. When many are involved, the work is inevitably more complicated. We are now in the final stages of our work which will require a further search for certain plants and which we may have to declare extinct in the county. It will also include a wider search for species which may have been overlooked in certain districts. More records are required for sub-species, varieties, and hybrids which have been given closer attention in the past ten years. The following genera are under-recorded:— Ranunculus Salicornia Rubus Rosa Epilobium Rumex Ulmus Salix Euphrasia Potamogeton Carex
Water Crowfoots, Batrachian section Glassworts Brambles The Dog Roses and hybrids The Willow Herbs and hybrids The Docks and hybrids The Elms The Willows and hybrids Eyebrights Pondweeds Sedges
If there are members of the Society and others outside the Society who have records of recent years which have not been submitted to us we shall be very glad to receive them. These should be sent to Mr. F. W. Simpson at The Museum, High Street, Ipswich. As soon as Mr. Simpson is more advanced with the examination of the records, it is proposed to publish a more complete list of missing and under-recorded species, together with the localities to
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FLORA OF SUFFOI.K
59
search. I n the meantime, I should be pleased to hear from any botanists in the county and elsewhere vvho would be prepared to help us in our final efforts. It will be a great help if such people could indicate any specific area in which they could work or maybe visit during 1968.