PROCEEDINas OP SOCIETIES. 91 



"The proceedings of the Botanical Society during the past year have not been devoid of interest 

 or importance. In no previous season has the study been prosecuted with so much ardour, per- 

 severance, and success, especially in the elucidation of obscure and difficult genera. It was not to 

 be expected that in a district previously so well explored, many new plants would be found ; but 

 the searches of our members have resulted in the discovery of numerous species and varieties, 

 and even of some not hitherto observed in the county. The difficulties attending the study 

 of the Cyperacea), Kosacese, Amcntiferae, Gramineae, and the minute and polymorphous tribes of 

 Cryptogamic plants, have been steadily encountered and successfully overcome. Neither the in- 

 clemency of the season, nor the fatigue of long excursions, have ever sufficed to throw a momentary 

 damp on the enthusiasm of our members. 



At the close of our fifth year a brief sketch of our indigenous botany, as far as relates to the 

 immediate district to which our researches have been principally, though not exclusively, con- 

 fined, will, it is hoped, be neither uninteresting nor useless. Our circuit is chiefly within ten 

 miles of the town, but places of interest at a greater distance are occasionally explored by parties 

 of our members, such as the rocky Hills of Spindlestone, the Kyloe Crags, Kothbury Forest, 

 and the Cheviot Hills. Within an easy walk of Alnwick the following rare plants grow plenti- 

 fully, many of them in extreme profusion: — Ranunculus Lingua, Cardamine amara, Stellaria 

 neraorum, Geum intermedium, Chrysosplenium alternifolium, Pyrola rotundifolia, Lathraea 

 Squamaria, Trientalis Europcea, Polygonum Rail, Paris Quadrifolia, Orchis pyramidalis, Habenaria 

 viridis, Neottia Nidus-avis, Gagea lutea, Scilla verna. Allium Shoenoprasum, Juncus maritimus, 

 Blysmus rufus, Carex extensa, distans, laevigata, pendula, vesicaria, and filiforniis, Arundo 

 Calamagrostis and Epigejos, Sesleria cserulea, Leptenus incurvatus, Polypodiura Dryopteris, 

 Asplenium marinum, Myrica Gale, Mcenchia erecta, etc., etc. 



Besides the plants here enumerated, all of which are undoubtedly wild, there are numerous 

 others appearing to grow spontaneously in our fields and woods, but which are generally con- 

 sidered to be introduced, and not originally native. The Snowdrop, Periwinkle, Red Valerian, 

 Dame's Violet, Lungwort, Clustered Bellflower, Mountain Currant, Fly Honeysuckle, Hautboy 

 Strawberry, Black Mullein, Leopard's Bane, Flax Dodder, Green Hellebore, Crocus, Narcissus, 

 Daffodil, Columbine, Water Lilies, Celandine, Sweet Violet, Sweet William, Sweet Cicely, Orpine, 

 Martagon Lily, Jacob's Ladder, Butcher's Broom, Bluebottle, Marigold, Misseltoe, Borage, Gold of 

 Pleasure, etc., besides a variety of trees and shrubs, are mostly frequent in the neighbourhood ; ^. 

 and some of them exceedingly abundant, though they may have been planted, or escaped frc^i 

 gardens, and are now only naturalized. The list might be very greatly extended, but enou{,ll' 

 has been said to show how rich our district is in botanical treasures. 



■ While, however, we possess a large and diversified flora ; while many plants, usually considered 

 rare, are very common with us; — on the other hand it is remarkable that many plants, generally 

 dispersed in abundance over the kingdom, and in some places troublesome weeds, are so seldom 

 met with here, that they may be deemed rare. The Wormwood, Mallow, Mugwort, Hemlock, 

 Cuckoo Pint, Annual Knawel, Mayweed, Water Pepper, Water Plantain, Duckweed, Hounds- 

 tongue, and Cowslips are not common in the vicinity of the town; and some of them are so 

 very rare, that our members have never seen them in the district. 



Although the fascinating species of Flowering Plants have engaged the studies of most of our 

 members, the minute, intricate, and multiform, but curious and interesting tribes of Cryptogamic 

 Plants have received no ^small share of our attention. It would far too much extend the limits 

 of this Report to give even an outline of the state of Cryptogamic Botany in this neighbourhood. 

 It may suffice to state that it is not less rich in flowerless than in flowering plants — Griramia 

 tricophylla, Dicranum Dillenii, and Hypnum undulatum, all in fruit; Peziza auricula, Tulos- 

 toma mammosum, Polyporus perennis, Mitrula paludosa, Cantharellus cornucopioides, Cyathus 

 crucibulum, and a vast number of other species grow in profusion near Alnwick ; their beauties 

 unknown and unheeded except by the botanist, who finds interest in the wild moor and marsh, 

 and new charms in the forest and the field. 



Encouraged by the signal success of our researches in practical Botany, it is intended to make 

 some effort to publish our transactions annually, commencing at the close of the present year 

 with a "Flora, of Alxwick." Our district in future will be bounded on the north by 

 Bamburgh, on the west by Cheviot and the Simonside Hills, and on the south by Morpeth, the 

 Wansbeck, and the Wallington Moors. When it is considered that our register already records 

 nearly eight hundred Flowering Plants and Ferns, it is evident that our future labours will 



