272 THE JOURNAL OF EOTANY 



late smooth seeds. The plant is a native of the Mediterranean 

 region, occurring in dry barren chalky spots in Southern France, Lot, 

 Toulon, Villefranche, Gap. and Ain ; also in Spain, Italy, Switzer- 

 land, Austria, Crete, and Greece. It was therefore ratlier surprising 

 to see it growing and apparently certainly wild on chalk downs 

 between Cobhani and Meophani in Kent. 



The plant was first found by Mr. Charles Baker, who resides in 

 this district, in May last, who gave a specimen to Miss L. Florence 

 liidlev, who sent it to me. I visited the locality on Sept. 8th with 

 Mr. liaker and Miss liidley and found the plant in flower. 



The locality is a very dry barren bank of chalk with \evy little 

 soil, covered, however, with dwarf forms of Origanum vuJgare, both 

 ])ink and white, only a few inches tall — Carlina, Erigcron acre, 

 Fastinaca, and other chalk-hill plants, with scattered wild rose- 

 bushes and stunted hawthorns ; no grass was seen except a few poor 

 patches of Brachgpodlum i)iniiafii)n. The ground appears never to 

 have been cultivated or even ploughed; at the base of the valley 

 below attempts have been made to cultivate, but without much 

 success. Though there is a quantity of Mustard on the further 

 hill, I could not see a single plant of anything which could have 

 been introduced where the Fl ant a go was growing. 



There is one clump of the j)lant in an oval form about two feet 

 across, the centre of which has died out and the edges are pushing out 

 all round : the strong woody stems show that the clump is an old one ; 

 its general a])pearance is that of a cluster of seedling pines. For 

 twelve yards from both sides of the clump smaller plants are scattered 

 along, evidently seedlings, many with well-developed Avoody stems. 

 There are no houses near the spot, the nearest being a farm-house, a 

 considerable distance off, and separated from the hill-side by a narrow 

 Avood, so that it is extremely improbable that the plant could have 

 been a garden introduction. Indeed, no one is in the least likely to 

 cultivate so inconspicuous a shrublet ; nor can I find that the plant 

 has ever been in cultivation in England. It is clearly not introduced 

 as a cornfield weed, as it is shrubby and does not grow in made 

 ground ; nor is there any rubbish from elsewhere thrown there or in 

 the neighbourhood. 



This region of Kent, however, is peculiar in having several very 

 local plants which are hardly wild elsewhere in England, such as 

 Salvia jjratensis, AWicea hirsvta, and Orchis liircina, all of which 

 grow within a few miles of this spot. It may be worth recording 

 that owing to cultivation during the war Althcea hirsufa very nearly 

 disappeared from its long-known locality here ; but in a wood some 

 miles away, which was much cut away during the war. Miss liidley 

 found a large quantity had sprung up ; I knew the wood when I was 

 a boy, frequently exploring it, but I cannot remember ever to have 

 seen* the Althcea there, though it was a plant I knew well. 



The remarkable thing about the occurrence here of Plantago 

 Cgnops is that it appears to be quite absent from Northern France ; 

 nor has it, so far as I know, been seen on any other of our chalk 

 downs, but most of these are more or less grassed over. It is seldom 

 tliat one finds a down so very barren and unprovided with soil as this, 

 \\hich appears to be the kind of locality in which F. Cynops grows. 



