EVIDENCE FROM HEPATICS ON THE HISTORY OF THE BRITISH FLORA.

The article discusses the study which assesses the evidence from British hepatics with discontinuous distribution outside the British Isles in relation to the history of the British flora. In this paper, British hepatics showing disjunction in their world distribution are classified in six groups including mediterranean element, disjunct-temperate element and the American element. It is concluded that the hepatics considered do not form a homogeneous group and their distribution patterns all appear to be explicable in terms of post-glacial climatic change without invoking in situ survival through glaciation.