BRITTEN ON BUCKINGHAMSHIRE RARITIES. 139 



Another of my more successful rambles was to Huglienden, formerly 

 spelt Hitchenden, the seat of the Hon. B. Disraeli. The woods here seem 

 never to have been investigated, and are full of treasures. On the chalky 

 banks Orchis pijramidalis was noticed, just off flower, with Hippocrepis 

 comosa, Chlora perfoliata, &c. In a young fir plantation was a magnificent 

 plant of Atropa Belladonna, having three main stems, each at least four 

 feet high, and of the thickness of a good-sized walkingstick, densely 

 branched, and covered with the dull purple flowers and immature fruit. 

 Ascending into the wood, I discovered Monotropa Hypopitys, just going to 

 seed, and a fine clump of Pyrola minor. The flowers of the specimens here 

 gathered had a delicate pink tinge at the edges of the petals, which, coupled 

 with the fact that the stems were spirally twisted, induced an able local 

 botanist to consider the plant P. media, but a reference to Professor 

 Babington quickly dispelled this pleasing illusion. In another part of the 

 wood I found Epilobiuni angustifollum ; this handsome plant appears to be 

 rather frequent in the neighbourhood : also Aquilegia vulgaris, Neottia 

 Nidus-avis, Habenaria bifolia, Orchis maculata, Ophrys muscifera, and a few 

 plants of Epipactis latifolia. At the bottom of the wood I came upon 

 another clump of Pyrola minor ; it is probably sparingly distributed 

 through the neighbouring woods. Making my way out of the wood, I 

 strolled across one or two fields, in which I noticed Linum usitatissimicm, 

 and in a short time arrived at Downley Common, where I saw nothing 

 worthy of special notice. Following the footpath towards Wycombe, I 

 arrived at a very small village called Littlemore ; here, by the roadside, 

 were about a dozen healthy young plants of Hyoscyamus niger. The foot- 

 path now led through Tinker's Wood, which is said by tradition to take 

 its name from the murder of an unhapjDy tinker within its precincts, in 

 " days lang syne"; on a bank near which was Alchemilla vulgaris. On 

 emerging from the wood, I came into a field, which I may characterise as 

 being a field full of wonders. The crop, or rather the second crop, was 

 Trifolium elegans, and the first object which arrested my attention was 

 Orobanche minor, growing in some abundance on Medicago lupuUna : here 

 the corolla was of the usual colour, whitish striped with lilac ; but I am 

 informed that in specimens gathered near Bisham, Berks., in a similar 

 situation, the blossoms were of a brick-red hue. Here and there, in some 

 quantity, was a large and very handsome Trifolium, with which I was un- 

 acquainted ; it had probably been introduced with the crop, but certainly 

 not for agricultural purposes. I at first thought that it might be T. patens, 



