300 The Field Naturalisfs Quarterly Nov. 



On the Occurrence of Cotula coronopifolia 

 in Cheshire. 



By E. M. Wood, Liverpool Naturalists' Field Club. 



About the year 1886 the discovery of Cotula coronopifolia at 

 Leasowe, Cheshire, created no small curiosity amongst local 

 botanists, and it was not until a specimen of the plant had 

 been referred to Kew that its identity was fully established. 

 The locality of the new home of the Cotula — a native of 

 Northern Europe — is the wind-swept and not altogether 

 picturesque portion of land on the sea-coast of Wirral, 

 lying about midway between New Brighton and Hoylake, 

 where the castle and lighthouse, and, up to recent years, 

 only a few scattered cottages, were the only buildings in 

 existence. Situated among the line of sandhills extending 

 along the coast, the flat marshy and sandy ground comes 

 as a break and divides the sandhills into two distinct 

 portions. The low-lying land is protected here from the 

 sea by a massive embankment, which is rapidly growing in 

 favour as a promenade for those who wish to enjoy the 

 invigorating breezes blowing over the waters of Liverpool 

 Bay. A little to the south of this embankment are the 

 remains of a submerged forest, which serve as an unend- 

 ing source of controversy and exploration to our local 

 geologists ! 



The history of this alien plant — which, by the way, is one 

 of the Compositse — so far as can be ascertained, is, that a 

 specimen was brought from Norway by the late Lady Cust 

 of Leasowe Castle and planted in the grounds. There it 

 grew and flourished exceedingly, and some roots became 

 conveyed to a fairly shallow ditch running at right angles 

 to the shore and divided by a field or two from the garden 

 of the castle. Since 1886 it has spread far and wide, and 

 most of the ditches which drain the surrounding fields are 

 thickly populated with the pretty little plant. The plant, 

 which even now often puzzles new-comers, accommodates 

 itself to circumstances, growing in damp spots among turf; 



