POLYGONATUM 487 



calcareous soil, that it is unnecessary to enumerate localities, but it is 

 absent from considerable areas of the heathy portion of the county. 

 Tamus is recorded for all the bordering counties. 



LILIACEAE, Adans. Fam. ii. 150 (1799). 

 RUSCUS, Linn. Gen. n. 1008 (Tournefort, Inst. t. 15). 



R. aculeatus, Linn. Sp. PL 1041 (1753'). Butcher's Broom, Knee Holly. 



Top. Bot. 403. Syme, E. B. ix. 184, t. 1516. Nyman, 715. Fl. Oxf. 303. 



Native. Sylvestral. Woods on the Chalk, probably alien elsewhere. 

 Local, not common. P. January-March. 



First record. Euscus. This bushe groweth verye plenteously in . . . 

 Barkeshyre, Turner's Herbal, ii. 122, 1562. Also recorded in Co/e.s' 

 Adam in Eden, 361, 1657, and more precisely 'In sylvis . . . haud 

 longe a Readingo oppido, aliisque copiose nascitur,' (Bobart^ in 

 Morison, Hist. Oxon. iii. 540, 1699. R. aculeatus, Dr. Noehden, 

 useful in domestic economy, Marors Agr. Berks, 1809. 

 1. Isis. Near Buckland, but most probably planted. 



3. Pang. Near Reading, Bobart. Streatley Wood, Woollcombe. Brad- 



field, Witts in Baxt. Phaen. Bot. 474. Basildon Wood. Sulham. 

 Kent Wood, Tilehurst. Certainly native in this district. 



4. Kennet. Weston, Osmond. 



5. Loddon. Near Wellington College. Finchampstead Ridges, 



Fenny. Park Place. 

 The R. laxus, Sm. in Linn. Soc. Trans, iii. (1797) 334> is not a species 

 or even a variety, as given in Eng. Fl. iv. 235, but only the male plant. 

 Ritscus is recorded for all the bordering counties except E. Gloucester. 



** Asparagus officinalis, Linn. Sp. PI. 313 (1753), var. altilis, Linn. 1. c. 

 Asparagits. Syme, E. B. ix. 182, 1. 1515. Comp. Cyb. Br. 582. Fl. Oxf. 303. 



Alien, Waste ground, tops of garden walls, &c. Evidently a garden escape, 

 or from the seeds being carried by birds. I have found it in all the 

 districts, but it does not become permanently established. 



POIiYGONATUM, Adans. Fam. ii. 54 (Tournefort, Inst. t. 78). 

 P. multiflorum, All. Fl. Ped. i. 131 (1785). Solomon's Seal. 



Convallaria multijlora, Linn. Sp. PI. 315 1^1753). 

 Top. Bot. 405. Syme, E. B. ix. 177, t. 1513. Nyman, 717. Fl. Oxf. 303. 

 Native. Sylvestral. Woods and thickets. Locally abundant. P. 



April-July. 

 First record. Polygonatum, Ger. [757]. In a field adjoyning to the 



Wash at Newberry, belonging to Mr. Gyles, now Mayor, and in 



several other places of Barkshire, Mr. Horsnell in Ray's Cat. PI. 



Ang. 248, 1670. In Comit. Bercher. copiose provenit, (Bobart) 



Morison, Hist. Oxon. iii. 1699. 



