380 



NOTES ON THE FLORA OF SHROPSHIRE. 



By Arthur Bennett, F.L.S. 



I LEARN from Science Gossip that the members of the Caradoc 

 and Severn Valley Field Club are engaged upon a new Shropshire 

 Flora, and that Mr. W. P. Hamilton, of Shrewsbury, will be glad 

 to receive records or other information. The late Mr. Beckwith, of 

 Ironbridge, had hoped to have brought out a flora of the county and 

 sent me many specnnens, and we had much correspondence on the 

 subject. It is for that reason that I make a few observations on 

 some plants of the county; if any reader of this Journal can supply 

 any information, I trust they will send it to Mr. Hamilton. 



Elatine Jiexandra DC. (Leighton's Flora, 173). I have this from 

 '* Mere near Ellesmere, 1871, Fred. Stratton," and also received it 

 from Mr. Beckwith. 



Salix pyatensis h. {Flora, 504). Mr. Watson places Shropshire 

 among doubtful counties for this plant, and thinks S. Verbenaca 

 may have been mistaken for it; but Mr. Leighton put a " !" to one 

 locality, and he was too good a botanist not to distinguish the 

 two. In one of the localities the plant may have been an intro- 

 duction, but in the other, "Oakley Park, near Ludlow," it may be 

 native. 



Actinocarpus Daniasonium. Br. [Flora, 157). A western locality 

 for an eastern species in Britain ; the Cornish one seems to have 

 been an error. It was "abundant at Ellesmere Mere " ; a specimen 

 thence is in the British Museum Herbarium, gathered by H. Bidwell 

 in 1843. This seems a decreasing species in Britain. 



Alisiiia nataiis L. [Flora, 158). I liave received the true plant 

 from Mr. Beckwith. This seems to require continuation from 

 several counties ; I have it from Salop, Montgomery, Carnarvon, 

 Chester, and have seen it from Anglesea. In addition to those 

 named in Top. Bot. ed. 2, it is reported from Cardigan in this 

 Journal for 1864, p. 8. 



Scheachzeria palustris L. This seems to be one of our decreasing 

 species, and I have noted the dates, so far as my material will 

 allow, of the various counties for which this species is reported. 

 In Salop it was discovered in 1824 by Mr. J. Jendwine ; it was also 

 gathered in 1831 by Prof. Babmgton ; both of these gathered it at 

 Bomere, and Mr. Jendwine also at Shomere. In 1866 the Rev. 

 0. M. Fielden found three specimens on Welsh Hampton Moss."*" 

 In June, 1884, Mr. Beckwith found it at Ellesmere. In 1892 the 

 Rev. E. F. Linton told me that he had searched unsuccessfully for 

 it both at Bomere and Ellesmere, and remarked that Mr. Phillips 

 thought it was extinct at Bomere : the latest specimen I possess 

 from Bomere is July, 1870. There is some discrepancy as to its 

 first discovery in England, In this Journal [I. c.) Mr. Leighton 

 says it was first found in Lakeby Car, near Boroughbridge, York, 



* Journ. Bot. 1866, 306. 



