MAIANTHEMUM BIFOLIUM IN ENGLAND 205 



1896, p. 431) that he was informed that it had been found near 

 Kothbury, in central Northumberland, some years previously, 

 by a Mr. Dinning. This locality may be the same as the one 

 described by Mr. Hind. 



Yorkshire. — In Borrer's herbarium at Kew there is a letter, 

 dated I860, accompanied by a specimen, from Mr. J. Breby to 

 Borrer, describing the habitat of Maianthemum in its well-known 

 station near Scarborough, where Breby and Reynolds discovered 

 it in 1857. He describes the place as "about seven miles from 

 Scarborough on the top and side of a precipitous cliff . . . 

 in a beautiful valley lying between a continuation of the famed 

 Forge Valley. The plant was growing in peat soil or clay 

 (evidently never disturbed) shaded by low brushwood and oak 

 trees, rather small and unthriving just in that locality, diffused 

 around for several yards and down the cliff, reaching along the 

 side from 50 to 100 yards and down the side about 20 yards. On 

 the one side the steep cliff and on the other reclaimed moorland 

 for a field or two, then the great unreclaimed moorland for miles. 

 The only house near is a farmhouse in the valley several hundred 

 yards below where the plant was found. I have made careful 

 enquiry, and all tell me there never was a house near and the 

 land was never cultivated. The plant was growing intermixed 

 with Trientalis europea, Habenaria bifolia, and not far away were 

 several ferns, Lastrcea Oreopteris, Poly podium, Phegopteris, and 

 P. Dryopteris, but such is the precipitous character of the cliff 

 that all these may be found except Trientalis, and the Maianthemum 

 not seen." Mr. J. A. Wheldon tells me that he was very familiar 

 with the Scarborough station in the late seventies and early 

 eighties and saw the May Lily there in 1887. He says it is 

 most plentiful near the upper edge of the escarpment, which is 

 considerably under 1000 ft. altitude, he thinks, but extends down 

 into the wood in scattered patches for about 50 or 60 ft. and 

 longitudinally for perhaps 100 to 150 yards. He thinks the 

 local botanists regarded it as truly native. He points out, how- 

 ever, that there are planted trees in the wood, although a great 

 deal of it is no doubt aboriginal. His only difficulty in accepting 

 the species as native there is its restricted range in a situation 

 where there are miles of suitable stations for it. It does not 

 occur in any of the other dales in the vicinity which cut deeply 

 into the great limestone mass and are very similar in their vege- 

 tation to that of Forge Valley, and in Forge Valley itself it is 

 restricted to this one patch. It spreads chiefly by the root, as in 

 some seasons it flowers very sparingly. This would look as if it 

 had spread in this locality from one central focus. He would feel 

 more satisfied that it was native if it occurred in several distant 

 parts of Forge Valley or in some of the adjacent similar dales. In 

 the seasons when it flowered freely the blossoms were hawked in 

 small bunches in Scarborough as " May Lilies," and he has seen 

 fine baskets full of blooms being carried from door to door by 

 itinerant vendors, who knew it was considered a rarity. I am 

 informed that the Maianthemum still exists in its Scarborough 



