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obliged to all botanists, especially those of the eastern districts of the county, of 
which I know very little, for looking at all well-developed Helleborines they meet 
with this summer, and securing any upon which they can with confidence affix 
the name of “media.” I need not tell any one who has had any experience in 
them that they are a puzzling family. But any carefully dried specimens will be 
thankfully received. 
Blysmus compressus. This has a wide distribution in Herefordshire, being 
noted from five districts, in the south, centre, north, and east of the county. I 
notice it to-day because Mr. Lees states it to be ‘‘abundant about ‘springs on the 
Malvern Hills,” and I can only say that in the sole locality in which it is known 
in the south of the county, Mr. B. Watkins and myself have searched for it for 
years without once finding a specimen, so rare is it. This only shows how distinct 
a feature is furnished by the Malvern Hills to the flora of Herefordshire, a remark 
which is abundantly illustrated in many other instances besides the present ; 
notably by the next plant on my list. 
Carex axillaris. This Sedge is quite a rarity in all parts of the county the 
botany of which I am acquainted with. Eardisland, on the authority of Mr. 
Crouch, the Canal side near Hereford, on my own authority and that of Mr. B. M. 
Watkins, exhausted all that was recorded about it till last year: when on the 
day of the Club expedition to the Herefordshire Beacon, I found it in a wood at 
the Herefordshire base of the hill; and taking it to compare with some in Mr. 
Towndrow’s collection, he surprised me by assuring me that it was abundant all 
round the hills. An illustrative series of the plant in question from these parts 
of the county would form a valuable addition to the County Herbarium. 
One more Sedge I must mention here is Carex distans. Its occurrence in 
Herefordshire rests on specimens found by me on the canal bank near Hereford, 
in 1879, and veritied by the authorities of the Botanical Record Club; and on an 
old specimen of Mr. Purchas’ from Plowfield, near Leominster, unnamed by him, 
but which I think is undoubtedly distans also. It is of particular interest, because 
I believe Herefordshire to be the first county in which it has clearly been met 
with entirely away from the influence of salt water. Any tall fulva-like Sedge in 
a good state for examination should be picked and cross-questioned by the botan- 
ist until it shows satisfactorily whether it is distans or no. 
I now mention a grass for which I wish to bespeak the attention of botanists 
—Bromus usper., var. Benekenii. Plants under this name were sent up by me to 
the Exchange Club in 1879, from Broomy Rise in Clehonger parish, and from 
Downton. The last verdict of the learned, represented by Dr. Boswell, upon them 
did not point to their being ‘‘ good” Benekenii. I would therefore limit myself 
to stating that « variety of this grass clearly enough separated from the common 
one to be told at a glance, and always in flower a week or a fortnight earlier than 
common asper, is widely distributed in Herefordshire ; and to invite botanists to 
make notes as to its occurrence in their districts, and collect specimens in order 
that both its distribution and its proper name may be more accurately fixed. 
My next parcel of plants comprises some upon which I possess only scraps 
of specimens or uncertain records, mostly of some antiquity, the doubts clinging 
to which need to be cleared up. 
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