ICG 



I ,am led to believe that it does not deserve tlie consideration which has been 

 given to it, that it is only a " rariety," and not a, separate species. I have 

 observed it growing in several woods in this and the adjoining county of 

 Monmouth, and have never once seen it but in company with both Luzula 

 Forstcri and L. pilosa. In Kigswood, on the Kynastone estate, all three, with 

 the addition of Luzula sylratica, may be found gi-owing together abundantly in 

 April and ]May. From these observations, from the results of very interesting 

 experiments, shewing the variety and uncertainty of forms produced from the 

 growth of seeds in many other plants, the Primuke for example ; in accordance 

 with opinions recently expressed by several scientific botanists ; and from the 

 additional fact that Luzula Borrcri rarely produces perfect fruit, I have come 

 to the conclusion that it can only be considered as a hybrid between Luzula pilosa 

 and L. Forsteri, and not therefore a true species in itself. 



In meadows between Whitbourne and the Downs I met with the Frog 

 Orchis, Habcnaria viridis, very plentifully and very fine ; and here began a 

 hiu-ried walk — with hardly time to record my observations now and again — by 

 Avenbm-y and Bishop's Fronie to the Ashperton Station, where I just caught the 

 train, and closed a pleasant ramble in a part of the county of Hereford I had 

 never before visited. 



The incidents of the joiirney were somewhat of the usual character. I 

 have nearly always found that the botanist, or as he is sometimes called, the 

 " Yarb gatherer," is looked upon as a strange, eccentric character. In conversa- 

 tion with people I meet with, I am often asked numerous questions relative to 

 the medicinal uses of the "Yarbs" I gather, and as they find that I am not 

 S> modem ^sculapius, and make no pretensions to prepare "simples" for the 

 dure of " all the ills that flesh is heir to," their curiosity is still more excited. 

 A commercial idea rises uppermost in their minds, and they are sometinres 

 impertinently inquisitive as to the exact monetary value, and the best and 

 nearest market for the disposal of the plant, perchance, which has just been 

 secured in their presence. It seldom occurs to them that the love of plants, for 

 the plants themselves, could render the pleasure of collecting them equal to the 

 fatigue of doing so. Then again, that useful apjjendage, the vasculum, excites 

 deep interest, not unmingled with awe. It is utterly beyond the comprehension 

 of the uninitiated, and did they but know something of the writings of Hesiod, 

 Pandora's box might have suggested itself to their perplexed brains. In th« 

 matter-of-fact minds of country folk, however, a candle-box is more often 

 thought of ; but on one occasion your irnlucky reporter met with a still more 

 humiliating incident. Thoughtfully wending his way with vasculum in hand, as 

 is his wont, he was suddenly accosted by a blooming damsel, who in "accents 



mild " and with " imploring looks " politely requested him to mend her 



parasol ! The indignation which instantly arose was, however, as quickly 

 rejielled, as his eye fell on the well-worn tin box, the evident cause of the 

 mistake, not to mention the simple inncocent look of the girl herself ; and thus 



