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PLANT RECORDS AND ADDITIONS AND CORRECTIONS TO THE FLORA OF SUFFOLK COMPILED BY F . W .
SIMPSON.
AT present space does not permit the publication in Our Transactions of an up-to-date check list of the wild flowers of the county, nor of bringing together the many additions and corrections since the Rev. W. M. Hind published his " Flora of Suffolk " in 1889, or the list of Suffolk plants in the Victoria County History of 1911! In the past numbers of the Transactions, with the exception of somegroupsofFungilistedby Mr. ArthurMayfield, F.L.S., nothing much has been attempted to place the wild flower records in a very systematic sequence. Certain emphasis has been placed on claiming species new to the county. However, one has to be cautious, as several species thus claimed have, in fact, already been recorded, usually in a not very accessible publication. A number of new and interesting records have appeared from time to time in various Journals or Transactions of learned Societies but have not yet been extracted and noted in our own Transactions. In the light of recent research on the more critical groups, a tremendous amount of revision of the flora has become necessary and many of the old records are now almost obsolete. No flora, however good when first published, is complete or without errors.' In these days of frequent and often rapid land reclamation and building, many well-known habitats of interesting plants are being attacked and the flora of an area may thus be completely altered in a very brief period. It is surprising that some plants manage to cling for many years to an old site, even when conditions appear most unfavourable. Published records should therefore not only include new finds, but notes on plants which have disappeared or been exterminated in a locality. Some of the records published this year include several received late in 1951 which, therefore, could not appear in the last Transactions, and are added here with the date. It has not always been possible to check the accuracy of every Observation when no specimen has been available. An asterisk before the record signifies that the plant mentioned is considered a new County, and therefore new Vice-County record (East Suffolk, Vice-County 25 and West Suffolk Vice-County 26). However, I shall always be pleased to hear of any earlier published records so that mistakes can be rectified.