Natural History in the English Counties, 



The whole are arranged, in two rooms, in glass cases and cabinets ; and 

 the curator is always ready to show those which are not openly displayed, 

 and to give information relative to all. Attendance of the curator is from 

 10 to 6 ; and although admission is, by law, restricted to persons introduced 

 by subscribers, yet the freest admission is, at all times, attainable,— 

 T. W. S. August, 1828. 



Medicago denticuldta, Orobdnche caryophyllacea, and O^phrys apifera. — 

 Sir, It was not my intention to publish a notice of some plants recently 

 discovered in our island, before the appearance of a « Catalogue of Plants 

 growmg wild in this neighbourhood," which I must now, from necessity, 

 deliay for a few months. 



The plant which I particularly desire to make known, that your readers 

 may, while the season lasts, observe upon its occurrence elsewhere, is the 

 Medicago denticulata of Willdenow (vol. iii. 1414.), and, probably, Ray's 

 " Medica marina supina nostras foliis viridibus ad summos ramulos vil- 

 losis." {Jig. 177.) This species is common 

 with many others of its tribe (Trifolium 

 sufFocatum, subterraneum, scabrum, glomera^ 

 tum, &c.), along this coast, from the foot 

 of the chalk escarpment at Folkestone, west- 

 wards, to New Romney and Rye. Messrs. 

 Sowerby, of Lambeth, have specimens froin 

 Southampton. The plant is at once distin- 

 guished by the beautifully-reticulated surface 

 of its legumes, which are of few convolu- 

 tions, furnished with a double row of short, 

 divaricated, hooked thorns ; and, in a ripe 

 state, black. The leaves are without spots ; 

 and, except at the extremity of the branches, 

 destitute of hair. The legumes attracted my 

 attention last autumn, long after the plant had withered. I sent some to 

 the late lamented president of the Linnean Society, who did not, however, 

 notice them to me. 



The second plant is Orobdnche caryophyllacea of Sir James E. Smith in 

 Linnean Transactions (vol. iv. p. 169.). The description of this plant in the 

 Transactions leaves us nothing to desire. I have only to observe that the 

 scent of cloves is remarkably developed, if the plant is flowered in water. It 

 occurred rather abundantly, in May, in hedges at the foot of the chalk in 

 this neighbourhood, parasitical upon Galium Jk/olliigo, iJubus fruticosus, &c. 



The O^phrys apt' 

 /era of Ejiglisk Bot. 

 (fg.ns.b) is a va- 

 riety distinct from 

 our Kentish plant (c). 

 This will be obvious 

 from the annexed 

 sketch of both plants. 

 I have received that 

 of English Botany 

 from Alum Bay, Isle 

 of Wight, but have 

 not detected it in this h 



county. 

 I will merely add a brief notice of synonyms of Medicago and Orobanche. 

 Medicago denticulata, Willd. v. iii. 1414. — Medicago foUiculo spinoso. 

 ** Cochleata minor, capsulA nigra hispida Volcknaer." Lobel, torn. 2. t. 42. 

 n. 498. — Medicago coronata ? Schkuhr. Botanisches Handbuch Planches, 

 V. iii. t. 2126. 



178 



