247 

 ]SAB,LY FLOWERING OF WILD PLANTS IN 1869. 



The following list of plants were obserTed in a flowering state on th« 

 Doward HiU and its vicinity on the 6th day of February, 1869, by Messrs. H. 

 Southall and Burton Watkins. It certainly proves a considerable acceleration in 

 time of the flowering of many of those plants that torm the adornment of the 

 British Vernal Flora, consequent upon the mild temperature that has i)revailed 

 throughout the winter. In seasons devoid of snow and not subjected to exces* 

 sive cold, there are always a few plants of general occurrence to be seen in 

 flower, as the daisy, dandelion, and chickweed, &c. These commoner species, 

 that open to a gleam of solar influence at any time, are marked with an asterisk j 

 but the date at which the others opened their flowers to observation may well be 

 ponsidered worthy of record i — 



Eanunculus ficaria 

 Veronica agrestis 



„ polita 

 Senecio vulgaris 

 Fragaria vesca 



,, Fragarioitrum 

 Primula vulgaris 

 Lamium purpureura 



,, album 

 Arahis Thalianum 

 Taraxacum officinale 

 ' Mercurialis perennis 

 ■ Ulex Europceui 

 Hutchinsia petrcea 

 Draha verna 

 ' Bellis perennis 

 Daphne laureola 

 Galantkus nivalit 

 Viola odorata 

 ,, sylvatica 

 Helleborus fcetidu3 

 ,, viridis 



Cardamine sylvatica 



CapgeUa bursa-pastorit 



Fumaria officinalis 



Petasites vulgaris 



Narcissus pseudo-nartit- 

 sus 



Alliaria officinalis 



Spergida arvensis 



Stellaria media 



Stachys arvensis 



Cfeum urbanum 



Anthriscus sylvestris 



Tussilago farfara 



Pyrethrum inodorum. 



Crepis virens 

 ' Viscum album 



Euphorbia helioscopia 

 ,, peplus 

 ' Corylus avellana 



Alnus glutinosa 

 * Poa annua 

 ,, nemoralis 



Carex clandestina 



CaltlM palustris (Marsh Marigold) occurred in flower about the 10th, 

 Veronica Buxbaumii on the 15th, and Erodium moschatum on the 19th, Gagea 

 Ivtea also had expanded flowers at the end of the month. 



Perhaps, however, the most remarkable indications of a peculiarly mild 

 winter have been shown in the early flowering of fruit trees. Apricots and 

 nectarines against garden walls were in flower the last week in January, and 

 the almond tree was in bloom as early in favourable positions. The damson 

 exhibited expanded flowers on February 13th, and by the end of the month was 

 generally in flower in gardens, though in ordinary years its flowering time is the 

 first week in April. In many places hawthorn hedges were partially green in 

 the middle of February, and primroses on banks with a northern aspect were 

 generally beginning to put forth blossoms, and by the close of the month, lilacs 

 and apple trees in gardens occasionally displayed expanded foliage. Pear trees 

 also expanded masses of flowers almost ready to open, and the appearance of 



