Ecology of Moorland Plants

Abstract

IN an article upon this subject in NATURE of November 8, Prof. Priestley discusses the apparently xerophilous nature of the ericoid shoot, and concludes that a plant such as Calluna is better classed as a “xeromorphic mesophyte,” which is “able to lose water like a mesophyte because in its natural habitat plenty of water is practically always available.” This conclusion is preceded by a brief reference to the recent work of Stocker and Montfort showing that the water of moorland soils is not necessarily toxic to moorland plants, and does not, as Schimper suggested, diminish their effective water absorption. Prof. Priestley accepts their inference from these experimental results and states that the “physiological dryness” of a peaty soil is a “myth,” and that therefore “there is not much left of the case for the xerophytic character of Calluna and the ericoid shoot.”