XCU FLORA OF BERKSHIRE 



Fajmncttlus is quite naturalized in the j^rivate portion of the Park, and 

 the Snowdrop and Double Daffodil are also semi-wild. Near to and 

 about the Grotto Lactuca muralis is common, and Geranium sanguineum 

 and Sedum dasyphyllum occur, but the latter are doubtless introduced. 

 Cerato2)hyllu77i, Chara fragilis, Potamogeton pusilliim, &c., occur in the 

 streams, and Oxalis stricta is common in garden ground at Frogmore. 

 From the summit of the Eound Tower, the view, which has been 

 admired bj'' so many of Her Majesty's subjects, extends to twelve 

 counties, Middlesex, Essex, Hertford, Bucks, Beds, Berks, Oxford, 

 Hants, Surrey, Sussex, Wilts, and Kent, and includes such distant 

 objects as the dome of St. Paul's and the towers of Westminster, Box- 

 hill, Sevenoaks, Shooter's Hill, Nettlebed, Lady Hill, and Harrow. 



The beauties of the Great Park have so often been described that a 

 brief notice only will be required. Windsor Park was visited by the 

 celebrated botanist, de I'Ecluse, in the sixteenth century, when he 

 recorded for the first time as Berkshire plants Calluna and Erica cinerea. 

 Shortly afterwards, Johnson, the author of the second edition of 

 Gerard's Herbal, found RyncJiospora alba, while in later times Dr. Light- 

 foot, a tutor of Queen Charlotte's, and Dr. Goodenough, afterwards 

 Bishop of Carlisle, botanized there, the latter recording some sedges 

 from this locality in his classic monograph of this genus. 



Windsor Forest has been often mentioned by our poets, and Pope's 

 description of it is well known. Shelley composed much of his poem 

 Alastor in the Forest. 



The Long Avenue, which stretches for three miles from the Castle 

 to the equestrian statue of George the Third by Westmacott, consists 

 of upwards of a thoiisand trees. From the eminence, on which the 

 statue is placed, the vista towards the Castle is very fine, and the view 

 over the Thames valley extremely beautiful. In the immediate 

 neighbourhood the botanist may notice many interesting plants. For 

 instance, Scutellaria minor, Peplis Portula, Lysimctchia nemorum, Dryoptcris 

 montana, I), spinulosa, B. dilatata, Athyrimn Filix-foemina, Festuca rubra, 

 var. fallax, Aira praecox, A. caryophyllea, Deschampsia Jlexuosa, Ranuncidus 

 Flammula, R. hederaceus, Sacjina ciliafa, Hypericum humifusum, Blechnum, 

 Carex laevigata, Calamagrostis epigeios, &c. 



The Forest is still of considerable extent, and there is considerable 

 variation in the character of its scenery and in its vegetation. As 

 James Thorne says, ' Once in the forest district, you are at no loss for 

 scenery or objects of beauty and interest. Rough paths lead on every 

 side to some wild woodland solitude, or to broad sterile heaths, or 

 marsh green with a few osiers, or hilly ridge commanding a rich and 

 varied prospect ; and then there are traces of roads and camps, the 

 work of conquerors of the earth, and spots where poets have lived, and 

 scenes which they have celebrated, ... or lonely heronries and rustic 



