DURING THE last two hundred years, successive armies of amateur field botanists have, by their exertions, helped to make the wild flora of Britain the best known of any country in the world. Mr. J. E. Lousley is one of the leading present-day representatives of this great amateur tradition. He lives and works in London and has developed a special affection for—and a unique knowledge of—the chalk downs and beech woods so typical of South-eastern England. Knowing this “weakness” of his we decided to ask him to undertake the first of a series of NEW NATURALIST books on the wild flowers of particular habitats—and the present volume on chalk and limestone is the result. Though the south-eastern chalk is a favourite week-end field of operations for Mr. Lousley, it is obvious that he has also visited and studied most of the other important limestone areas in Britain, from the Devonian limestones of Devon to the Oolite of the Cotswolds and the great areas of Carboniferous Limestone in the north. He has revisited most of the areas described while writing his book. During his wanderings he has been fully awake to the ecological background against which any worth-while study of plants must be made, as is well brought out in his book, but it is the flowers themselves—the peculiarities of their distribution, the characters which distinguish them from their allies, and the history of their discovery in Britain—that fill the centre of his vision and provide the inspiration of his book.
Very few types of habitat can boast a larger proportion of rare and beautiful wild flowers than the limestone—nor more lovely scenery in which to search them out—and Mr. Lousley has undoubtedly taken hold of his opportunities with both hands. His book will, we hope, inspire many to follow in his footsteps across the thyme-scented chalk uplands, through the green shades of the Cotswold beechwoods, or across the limestone pavements of the north, and to learn something of the rich flora that makes them so fascinating to explore.
THE EDITORS