58 



thistle-down some summers since, and resting for a short time among the vast 

 Carboniferous Limestone masses of the Great Orme's Head in Carnarvonshire, 

 I one day wandered to an isolated hill called Craig Diganwy, where, to my sur- 

 prise, tufts of Foxglove appeared in lofty splendour, as they do in such luxuriance 

 on our Malvern Hills, but keeping clear of the limestone. " Why, good gracious," 

 I exclaimed, "I seem got back to Malvern," and on examining the ground, I 

 so jn found I had unconsciously wandered to a mass of trap-rock, and there only 

 did the Foxglove present itself to view, for not a single specimen did I anywhere 

 find upon the limestone, while the Gentian, the Rose, the Marjoram, and the 

 Spiraea Filipendula as cautiously kept out of the trap (a laugh). 



The botanist, therefore, always feels pleasure in treading upon limestone, 

 because he knows that many plants can there be found with certainty not easily 

 obtainable elsewhere, and some of these are very local, as the Cotoneaster, found 

 on the Orme's Head ; Thlaspi perfoliatum, a Cotteswold plant ; Carex humilis, 

 on St. Vincent's Rooks ; C. digitata, on the limestone ledges of the Wye, near 

 Symond's Yat, and others that might be mentioned. Our Silurian limestone 

 nourishes Pimpinella magna, Linaria minor, Orchis pyramidalis, and Ophrys 

 apifera, Cnicus eriophorus, Gentiana Amarella, Avena pubescens, and the local 

 wood Lyme-grass (Elymus europseus). 



This, then, points out the advantage of cultivating kindred sciences, and 

 maintaining friendly relations with geological explorers, since in their company 

 hints may be obtained useful in practical researches, and mutual rubbing up 

 polishes both parties and takes off the absorbing, overweening rust that is apt to 

 gather sometimes about a man, like grey lichens on an old apple-tree, when too 

 over-shadowed by a single engrossing subject. 



Most of the British plants partial to limestone may be found in our Silurian 

 woods, or on the exposed rocks that are brought up by the Malvern syenite ; yet 

 there are special exceptions not easily to be explained, but which give a value to 

 local researches, and impress a pleasure on local explorations. Thus the White 

 beam-tree (Pyrus Aria) that grows on the Oolitic rooks of the Cotteswolds, and is 

 such an adornment to the grey, romantic precipices of the Wye, is not anywhere 

 seen in the .Malvern district ; but, in exchange, we get beautiful clumps of glaucous 

 fragrant Juniper, which is scarcely found on, if not altogether absent from, the 

 banks of the Wye. The Columbine (Aquilegia vulgaris) forms quite a feature in 

 many of our Silurian groves and woody borders, but is very rare indeed in the 

 Cotteswold woods, only one locality for it being given in my friend. Professor 

 Buckman's " Flora of Cheltenham." The differences between local Floras would, 

 however, lead us insensibly into too wide a field of observation ; but I may here 

 remark that the Autumnal-flowering gorse (Ulex Gallii) that grows on our Malvern 

 Hills in such extensive and wide-spreading prickly tufts, is unknown or unre- 

 corded upim the opposite Cotteswold cliffs of the ancient Malvern Straits. 



For a moment let us glance at the characteristic vegetable aspect of our 

 Silurian woods in the summer time, after the countless wild daffodils with which 

 they are crowded in early spring, the Snow-drops, the Blue-bells, the numerous 



