BOLANICAL FEATURES. a 
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of draining the marsh is carried into execution (and it has already 
commenced), the local flora will sustain an irreparable loss. In this 
neighbourhood may be seen in all its glory that most beautiful of 
orchids, Orchis laxiflora. It grows in profusion in the meadows all 
round, and about the second week in June some places are purple 
with the flowers. Besides this Orchis, and some of the plants already 
mentioned as found in the Vale district, the following rarities may 
be seen within a mile of Vazon Bay :— 
Callitriche truncata. Mibora minima. 
Centaurea aspera. Lagurus ovatus. 
Spiranthes aestivalis. Cynodon Dactylon. 
Cyperus longus. Bromus rigidus. 
Carex punctata. Chara baltica. 
A pretty little plant, Zrigeron mucronatum, a native of Mexico, 
is thoroughly naturalised in Guernsey, and grows profusely on 
several old walls in the suburbs of St. Peter-Port. Although totally 
different in foliage and habit, the flowers bear a striking resemblance 
to those of the common daisy, and thereby it escapes notice. How 
and when this species was introduced is not known, but it has 
existed on the same old walls for very many years. 
In the eyes of visitors, the greatest botanical curiosity in the 
island is Gunnera scabra, a gigantic plant locally known by the name 
of Wild Rhubarb, from the general resemblance of its enormous 
leaves, which measure five or six feet across, with leaf-stalks as thick 
as a man’s wrist. It has long been grown here in private grounds, 
and during the last twenty or thirty years has become thoroughly 
established on the borders of pools and valley streams in the south. 
Above Moulin Huet Bay this magnificent plant, a native of South 
America, grows in great luxuriance, but it suffers severely in hard 
-winters. 
It is hardly necessary to state that the Guernsey Lily (/Verine 
sarniensis) is not indigenous; but its introduction into the island 
was rather remarkable. About two centuries ago, a Japanese vessel 
was wrecked on the coast of Guernsey, and some bulbs of this lily 
were washed ashore and got buried in the sand. Here they 
remained unobserved until the great beauty of the flower attracted 
the attention of the Hon. Charles Hatton, son of Lord Hatton, then 
Governor of the island, who cultivated the plant and distributed 
specimens. Dr. James Douglas published a treatise on the Guernsey 
Lily, or Lilium sarniense, in 1725. The bulbs have been cultivated 
by flower-growers in the island ever since, and considerable quantities 
are sent to England every year. 
The profusion of ferns is one of the most. striking 
characteristics of the native vegetation of Guernsey. 
Everywhere throughout the island, on hedge-banks and stream sides, 
Ferns. 
