NOTES — ORIGINAL AND SELECTED. I^y 



Epipactis latifolia Sw. [Bentham ; media Fr. Bab.] — In a coppice 

 the lower extremity of the wood (part of the old Hainault Forest), between 

 Chigwell Row Church and the open plain at Lambourne End, on Jiilv 17th, 

 1899, flowers not quite open. On August 23rd I found three specimens in full 

 bloom. On the latter day, Mr. S. Arthur Sewell was with me, and we 

 verified the plants by Bentham and Sowerby. — (Rev.) Alfred Huddle, M.A., 

 Buckhurst Hill. 



[In the small collection of plants gathered by J. Ray, of Epping' 

 recently acquired for our Museum, are two specimens of Epipactis from 

 Epping, labelled latifolia. Gibson gives both forms as occurring rarely in 

 woods near Epping and Woodford, but Newbold remarks {Flora, p. 309), " as 

 most, if not all, of the Cambridge stations for E. latifolia produce only 

 E. media, the same may be the case in Essex." — Ed.] 



Rhamnus frangula, L., in Epping Forest. — This shrub I first found 

 (at Mr. F. W. Elliott's station, E.N., x, 397) on June 7th, 1892. Strolling on 

 August 25th, 1899, through Leyton Flats, from Eagle Pond towards Whipp's 

 Cross, in the coppice where formerly I had found it, I counted 8 scattered 

 specimens, varying from 4 to 10 feet high, and one isolated specimen (unfor- 

 tunately cut down during a recent forest fire, but throwing up vigorous 

 shoots) a furlong south-west of the coppice. The coppice runs parallel to the 

 Snaresbrook Road, near the Eagle Pond. — (Rev.) Alfred Huddle, M.A., 

 Buckhurst Hill, October 25th, 1899. 



The Old Yew Tree in Woodford Churchyard, Essex. During a 

 correspondence in the London Standard in Mav last some interesting details 

 were given of this old yew. In 1809, Dr. Hughson, in his London, stated that 

 the tree was the largest within twelve miles of London., and measured 14 feet 

 3 inches round at four and a half feet from the ground, and that the spread of 

 its branches covered a circle 180 feet in circumference. Mr. W. Bradbrooke, 

 of Bletchley, said that in October, 1892, he found the Woodford yew to 

 measure over 15 feet round and the spread of the branches to be about 150 

 feet. Mr. Henry Spring, of Woodford, gave the dimensions as 15 feet in 

 girth at 2.J feet from the ground, and 18 feet girth at 5 up He added " the 

 Rector, the Rev. A. Hughes, informs me that there is a record that in the 

 year 1816, when Woodford Church was re-built, the spread of the branches 

 was 180 feet, and this is probably correct, judging from an old engraving of it. 

 It is generally believed to be about 800 years old." Curiously enough, this 

 tree is not mentioned in Warner's Plants Woodfordienses. 



Practical Instruction in Botany in the London Parks.— An excellent 

 suggestion has been made to utilise the parks of London for the teaching of 

 practical botany in connection with elementary and secondary schools. 

 It is proposed that plots of ground should belaid out and devoted to the cultiva- 

 tion, for school purposes, of hardy plants belonging to some twenty typical 

 natural orders. The beds would be arranged near the paths, one bed being 

 devoted to each order. A botanical guide to the parks might also be pub- 

 lished, under the superintendence of the Technical Education Board and the 

 Parks Committee jointly, and teachers would be enabled to obtain from the 

 Superintendent in each park such specimens as are required for botanical study 

 in the schools, as far as they could be supplied without detriment to the plants 

 themselves. The experiment is to be tried, and if later on it should prove to 



