GRINDON ON EARE PLANTS. 39 



In a wood between the Station and Gelland, Paris quadrlfolla is extemely 

 abundant. 



Our walk on the Friday morning was in the neighbourhood of 

 Humphrey-head, and afterwards to the summit. The slope towards the 

 open sea is completely covered with Helianthemwn canuni. The flowers 

 are much smaller than those of H. vulgare; the colour is a full and 

 uniform yellow ; the leaves are destitute of stipules, and very downy on 

 the under-surface ; and the style and stigma appear as if crushed down- 

 wards instead of being straight and erect. Associated with it, (but more 

 plentifully upon rocks about a mile nearer Kent's Bank) grows the 

 beautiful liiijpocrepis comosa. The inflorescence of this plant, along with 

 that of many Coronillas and the Lotus major, is usually called a " depressed 

 umbel." If a new term be admissible in Botany, I beg to recommend the 

 name " chaplet " as more appropriate ; the golden ring of blossoms seems 

 to me always to suggest the idea of a diadem. On the Head grows Poly gala 

 vulgaris, in five or six different varieties of colour ranging from cream- 

 white, through pink and lavender, into the deepest violet-blue. The 

 beauty of this little flower lies in two of the sepals, which are greatly 

 enlarged, and simulate petals ; eventually they become green, and clasp 

 the flattened ovary. Such deviations from usual structure should be 

 attentively considered by the young student, and wherever possible, the 

 parallel cases among exotic plants. In the genus Musscenda, for instance, 

 belonging to the Cinchonaceee, and common in hot-houses, one of the five 

 sepals is similarly enlarged, becoming white and petal-like. Many flowers 

 grow together in a cluster, but only the outer ones have a sepal thus 

 changed and enlarged, so that the general appearance approaches that 

 called " radiant " as in the Hydrangea, and the Viburnum Opulus in its wild 

 state. Geranium sanguineum grows upon the Head, but rather sparingly. 

 The rocky beech below is plentifully strewed with Armaria, Silene maritima, 

 and other plants that love the scent of the sea, and where muddy there 

 is plenty of Glaux maritima. Every one who has a microscope should 

 examine the flowers of the Armeria in every detail. The plaited calyx 

 with its long green sepals, connected by a transparent web into a vase fit 

 for the hand of Titania; the five long and tender styles, and the 

 extremely curious interior of the ovary, and its solitary and suspended 

 ovule, are all objects of the highest beauty and attractiveness. Moving 

 through the fields towards Cartmel, we noticed in every hedge the 

 elegant foliage of the Tamus. This beautiful plant looks like a pro- 



