A new update to The Flora of Rutland Supplement has been published.

Messenger did not complete his Supplement to the Flora of Rutland when he died in 1993, leaving 24 pages of unfinished typescript, and an annotated version of his Flora of Rutland that contained new records of plants. These works form the basis of this Supplement that has been updated to include relevant records from his original recording cards. It contains copies of his 840 updated maps of the Rutland flora, 19 new maps of roses and 8 maps of first Rutland records. Supplementary notes provide details of 1,099 records up to 1990: 861 field records (365 of which are of elms) and 238 records from herbarium specimens. There are 45 updated first records for Rutland that result from his discovery of a large ’scrap book’ containing specimens dating from 1822 to 1824 at the Manchester Museum of Science and Technology. A summary of changes to the flora of Rutland and updates to the Gazeteer of places has been included, along with his obituary and some photographs of him. It is a fascinating snapshot written at a time of great ecological change by a skilled and dedicated naturalist who knew and loved Rutland’s plants and wanted to share his knowledge with all.

Copies can be obtained from the author by emailing geoffrey.hall@ntlworld.com. Price is £13 plus p&p £3.50 (second class), £4 (first class).