Abstract The Great Salt Plains comprise about 25 mi 2 (64 km 2 ) of flat, barren land, naturally encrusted with salt (halite), along the Salt Fork of the Arkansas River (Fig. 1). The salt plains, which also embrace the area where unique hourglass selenite crystals are currently growing, are almost entirely enclosed within the Great Salt Plains National Wildlife Refuge. Located in central Alfalfa County, Oklahoma, the land is about 4 mi (6.4 km) east of Cherokee and just northwest of Jet. Free access by car or bus is permitted at all times during the year to the salt flats in the vicinity of the observation tower on the west (site 1, Fig. 1) and to the dam and state park area in the east (including picnic and camping facilities and cabins). Also, free access by car or bus to the selenite crystal area (site 2, Fig. 1) is permitted through only one gate, which is unlocked from 8 A.M. until 5 P.M. only on Saturdays, Sundays, and holidays from April 1 to October 15 each year. The crystal area is about 1 mi (1.6 km) northeast of this gate and can be reached safely by driving along the specified road across the salt flats. Access to other parts of the Great Salt Plains is restricted by fences; quicksand, at scattered locations on the salt flats, makes trespass in nonauthorized areas hazardous. The area is covered by four 7½-minute quadrangle maps: Cherokee S, Cherokee N, Jet, and Manchester SW. For information concerning the

Abstract The year 2001 marked the 150th anniversary of the appointment of William Crawford Williamson to the Chair of Natural History at Owens College, which later became the Victoria University of Manchester. Since 1851 a palaeobotanical presence in Manchester has been continuous, apart from 1940 to 1950. The history of the various incumbents in academic posts and their contributions are charted and discussed. They include Williamson, Weiss, Lang, Stopes, Walton and Watson. Other palaeobotanists associated with Manchester were students, museum staff or incumbents of various ancillary appointments, and there were many distinguished visitors. The total number of students registered for higher degrees is remarkably few, nearly half studying with Watson in the past 20 years. The proportion of women palaeobotanists, counting staff and postgraduate students, is very high. The research output from Manchester includes most British fossil floras, and impressive attention to devising and improving laboratory techniques from Williamson to the present day. There is evidence that palaeobotany in Manchester has been considered an anachronism even from Williamson’s time and it now faces extinction in 2005.