202 



THE MORE RARE PLANTS OF THE DOWARD 

 DISTRICT. 



BY MR. HENRY SOUTHALL. 



Since many of the most interesting plants in the district the club has 

 visited to-day are now out of flower, I have been requested by our President 

 (Dr. Ball) to bring those which are most curious or rare in a dried state for 

 your inspection, and to give an account of the localities in which they grow. 

 I should scarcely have undertaken to do so, however, if I had known that 

 Mr. Purchas would have been here, since he is now preparing for publication 

 the flora of Herefordshire, and knows so well this district. I propose to give 

 the English names where I can, to make myself more intelligible to those who 

 are not botanists ; and I am only sorry that a study which has afforded me 

 80 much pleasure should not be more generally popular. Few but those who 

 have taken it up can estimate the amount of additional interest it can give to 

 a country walk, or a leisure hour. 



1 must now ask you to accompany me to the Great Doward in the 

 latter end of January or beginning of February, and then, if the season is 

 not a severe one, we shall find in a little hollow under a tree, not far from the 

 river, and just at the base of the slope, a good-sized patch of the bear's foot, 

 or green hellebore (Helhhorus viridis), with its large green flowers and finger- 

 shaped leaves ; and not far from it, in the coppice above, an occasional plant or 

 two of the other British species, the setter wort (Helhhorus fcetidusj, a 

 more shrubby and fcetid plant than the former. Both these plants belong to 

 the same genus as the Christmas rose (H. nigerj. They are extremely local, 

 and are notable for their medicinal virtues. 



Climbing the rocks, we come to a little projecting ledge overlooking the 

 river from a considerable elevation, and here several rare plants cluster 

 together. The carex or sedge tribe is represented by three very rare species 

 —Carex clandestina, C. montana, and C. difjitata. Here, too, later in the 

 season, the pretty dropwort (Spirea filipendula) raises its pink buds and 

 white blossoms; while enclosing this small space are the wild service tree 

 (Pyrus torminalis) and the white-beam (Pyrus aria), remarkable for its 

 leaves being so white and downy beneath. 



Two or three varieties of the lime (Tilia) were also noticed by Mr. 

 Babington as growing in these woods. The hairy violet (Viola hirta), the 

 horse-shoe vetch {Hippocrepis comosa), the lesser burnet (Poterium 

 sanguisorba), and many others are there; and on the other side of the 

 path, later in the summer, may be found the great white helleborine 



