356 THE NATURALIST. 



SPONTANEOUS EXOTICS. 



By James Britten. 



(Continued from page 266.^ 

 Order XIV. — Malvace^. 

 Lavatera trbnestris, D.C. Is recorded by Wincli from the ballast-hills 

 of Tyne and Wear. A native of the South of Europe. 



L. Olbia, L. Sprang up plentifully, and in a somewhat remarkable 

 manner, in Epping Forest, some years ago. The following account of its 

 appearance is given by Mr. Doubleday in the Phytologist for 1842. " A 

 few years since, a new piece of road was made through Epping Forest to 

 Woodford. At a spot called Fairmead Bottom a large quantity of earth 

 was dug from the forest and thrown up to raise the road, for the distance 

 of about half a mile. The following summer the sides of this piece of road 

 were covered with various plants, such as Seneclo Jacobean thistles, &c. ; 

 and among them a great number of plants of Lavatera Olbia, a species not 

 known, I believe, as a native of Britain. There is not the slightest doubt 

 that the seeds had been buried for a vast number of years, and vegetated 

 when brought to the surface, as it seems impossible for the plants to have 

 got there in any other 'xvay. For three or four years they seemed to 

 flourish, and flowered abundantly ; but now the banks have become covered 

 with grass, &e., they seem to be disappearing, and last year I could only 

 find three or four plants. When I first noticed it, there w-ere hundreds 

 scattered along the whole length of the raised portion of the road." Phyt, i. 

 265. N.S. It bas now probably entirely disappeared from this locality. 

 Mr. Irvine collected it on the waste ground at Wandsworth steamboat pier 

 [H.B.P. 747.) A native of France, &c. 



L. alba, Mr. Lloyd observed this " growing by the side of the road 

 between the town ond the back gate of the Botanic Garden, Cambridge. 

 Phyt., a. 446. N.S. I am uncertain whether the white-flowered variety of 

 L. trbnestris is included under the name, or whether L. Olbia may have 

 been meant ; as I do not find L. alba as a species in the works to which I 

 have referred. 



L. cretica, L. ? Is recorded doubtfully by Mr. Irvine from the Wands- 

 worth steamboat pier locality in H.B.P. 747. A native of Crete. 



L. punctata, D.C. Reported by Mr. Irvine from the same locality in 

 Phyt., Hi. 319. N.S. : and doubtfully ia H.B.P. 747. A native of Italy. 



