8 



DISCOVERY OF EUFRAGIA (BARTSIA,) VISCOSA, 

 IN SUSSEX. 



By THR REV. E. H. M. SLADEN. 



In compliance with your i-equest to me to embody the details of my dis- 

 covery of JEufrajia viscosa, (Grisebach,) Bartsia viscosji, (Smith,) I beg to say 

 that on the 27th. of September. 1851, I met with it in a bye-road called 

 Turkey lane, which, branching off the highway from Hastings to Lewes, at 

 the hamlet of Sidley -green, leads to the village of Hooe. The exact spot 

 is known by the name of Clinch Green, and will be found laid down in the 

 Ordnance map as not quite two miles from the sea. The plant was growing on 

 a piece of waste grass by the road-side for some little distance, and in con- 

 siderable quantity; and here and there were patches of rushes, shewing the 

 moisture of the soil. I made several visits to the spot afterwards, and 

 observed the plant in flower as late as the 30th. of October. The largest 

 specimen measured twenty-one inches and a half in height, and there were 

 others nearly as tall. 



During the present season I had not an opportunity of visiting the spot 

 until the 11th. inst., when I was surprised at finding the plant as rare as 

 it was plentiful last autumn. I counted only about half-a-dozen plants in 

 all, and these were so insignificant that I much doubt whether I should have 

 noticed them if I had not gone on purpose. The tallest specimen was not 

 above a foot high. This difference is probably to be attributed to the long- 

 continue 1 drought which prevailed in the spring, for we had scarcely any 

 rain from the middle of February to June, and the ponds were very generally 

 dry; and earlier in the winter, before the drought set in, I heard it said 

 that the ponds had not been known so low for a lengthened period. 



I sent you the specimen of Eufragia, because I believed it was the first 

 instance of its discovery in the neighbourhood; indeed, I imagine this must 

 be its mo?t eastern station in Great Britain. Mr. Watson, in the ^'^Cybele 

 Britannica," mentions Sussex among the twelve counties, (eight English and 

 Welsh, and four Scotch,) in which it has been found; and of these Sussex 

 is the only eastern one. The same author limits the range north and south 

 by the parallels 50-o7: Mr. Woods, in his "Tourist's Flora," gives south 

 and west Europe generally. 



Let me note here that among the plants most prominent in Turkey lane 

 at this season at least, are Solidago virgaurea, Pulicaria dysenterica, Hiera- 

 c'mm sylvaticum, H. Eupatorium, Scabiosa succisa, Lgcopus Europoeus, Mentha 

 aquatica, Galeopsis tetrahit, Erythrcea ccnfaurium, Ulex nanus, with Erica 

 tetralix and Galluna vulgaris; in places Ranuncidas Lingua and Flammula, 

 and rarely Linum anyustifolium. The lane is a favourite with me, running 

 a long distance with woods on either side; here I have seen the first Dormouse 

 abroad, and the first spring flower, and here, last Tuesday, I saw the Hooded 



