Plant Growth in a Cheddar Cave

Abstract

GOUGH'S Cave at Cheddar, Somerset, is illuminated by electric light in those parts which are shown to the public. Within a radius of about six feet from almost every electric bulb (of the ordinary gas-filled type) the rock or clay is covered with a growth of green plants. At some points there is only a film of Protococcales; at others the growth is more luxuriant and consists of mosses, liverworts, fern prothalli, and ferns. At a point about a quarter of a mile from the entrance of the cave there is growing a plant of the Hart's Tongue Fern (Scolopendrium vulgare) about eighteen inches in height.