DISTBIBUTION OF SALVIA PllATEN-SIS IN OXFORDSHIRE. 293 



In th-e Herbarium of the British Museum there is a specimen of S. pra- 

 tensis from Mickleham, Surrey, but without intimation as to its being 

 a casual or not. In both the counties in which it grows undoubtedly- 

 wild it has been known for a considerable time, being supposed to be 

 limited to a single locality in each. The earliest record I have been 

 able to find of it as a British plant is in Morrison's " Plantarum 

 Historiae Universalis Oxoniensis." published in 1699, where it is re- 

 corded from Cobham in Essex, evidently a mistake for the well-known 

 Kent locality, on the authority of Mr. D. Watts. In addition to this, 

 there are specimens in the British Museum from Queenstown Warren, 

 Kent; one collected by the Eev. W. W. Newbould in 1868, and 

 leaves from a single large root by Dr. Trimen in 1872. 



The earliest record of it in Oxfordshire is from between Middletou 

 Stoney and Ardley, in Sibthorp's ''Flora Oxoniensis," published in 

 1794. In Walker's "Flora of Oxfordshire," published in 1833, 

 it is recorded from the same place by Mr. E. Palmer (now Lord 

 Selborne). In 1870 I paid a visit to this spot. It is situated about a 

 mile north of Middleton Stoney, and 3^ miles north-west of Bicester, 

 on the side of the turnpike road between the former place and Ardley, 

 at a slight but somewhat abrupt bend in the road. Here within a 

 very limited space I found it flourishing abundantly on the grassy sides 

 of the turnpike road on the hedge-bank within the corn-field on the 

 western side of the road, and along a band of grass beneath a row of 

 beech-trees, forming the northern boundary to the same corn-field. 

 This appears to be the spot referred to in our modern standard British 

 Floras. But it not only occurs in at least one other spot in the 

 vicinity of this, but also occupies a much larger area in the county 

 than has usually been supposed. Mr. Saunders in an article on Kirt- 

 lington plants in the " Magazine of I^atural History," p. 239, says that 

 " this rare plant occurs sparingly in the Green Lane, as it is called, 

 leading from Kirtlington to the western extremity of Lord Jersey's 

 park at Middleton." The Oxfordshire specimen in the British Museum 

 was collected by Mr. Saunders, and is from this spot, which must be 

 nearly three miles from the former. Mr. T. Beesley, of Banbury, informs 

 me that the late Dr. Brain of that town gathered specimens near 

 Bicester, and he believes he would have been more accurate than to 

 have described Middleton Stoney as '' near Bicester " in a matter of this 

 kind. On the 29 th of July of the present year I met with S. pratensis 

 at Finstock by the side of a foot-road leading to Charlbury, in a hilly 

 close bordering on Wychwood Forest, and about a half-a-mile further 

 on, in a portion of Cornbury Park, called the Little Park, to the south 

 of the ponds dividing it from the main portion of the park. This 

 latter locality is about a mile and a half south of Charlbury, and 13 

 miles from the Middleton Stoney locality. In a list of the rare plants 

 of Charlbury by Miss Gillett in "Young England," Dec, 1864, p. 

 291, it is mentioned as occurring in afield near Charlbury. From 

 the familiarity shown by Miss GiUett with the names of the localities 

 slie mentions it is improbable that either of the above spots would 

 have been described so vaguely as a field near Charlbury, and hence 

 the plant may grow nearer the town than my localities indicate. Mr. 

 T. Beesley informs me that he has had specimens sent him from Glyme 

 Farm. This is a mile east of Chipping Norton, 6 miles north-west of 



