156 GUERNSEY, 
little above high-water mark. Rare in the low-lying districts. South 
side of Bordeaux Harbour sparingly. 
Plantago lanceolata, L. Ribwort Plantain. 
Native. First record: Gosselin, 1815. 
Very common, and very variable. In 7. Sarn. Babington dis- 
tinguishes three varieties, all of which are more or less common. 
Called in the patois Amourettes, about which Métivier remarks: 
‘Nos amourettes sont les Amore¢tis, true-love knots, nceuds d’amour, 
du poéte anglais Chaucer.’ In Cheshire it is believed that a 
large quantity of this plant in the herbage will cause the hay to 
heat and ultimately ignite the rick. From time immemorial it has 
been employed as a vulnerary: ‘plantain ribbed, that heals the 
reaper’s wounds.’ 
Plantago major, L. Great Plantain. 
Native. First record: Gosselin, 1815. 
Common throughout the island. 
The patois name is Plantain, as in Normandy. Among the old 
herbalists this species, like the last, was in great repute in the 
healing of wounds, and Shakespeare alludes to this in Romeo and 
Juiltet, i. 2. Plantain leaves placed inside the stocking are said to 
relieve the foot when sore from walking. This plant, which now 
abounds in the Eastern States of North America, was originally 
introduced from this country, and the Red Indians gave it the 
very expressive name of White Man’s Foot. In Longfellow’s poem 
Hiawatha says, speaking of the early settlers :— 
‘ Wheresoe’er they tread, beneath them 
Springs a flower unknown among us, 
Springs the White Man’s Foot in blossom.’ 
(Plantago media, L. Hoary Plantain. By some error Babington 
notes this species in “V7. Sarn. as occurring commonly in Guernsey. 
No one else has seen it in the island, and Gosselin makes no 
mention of it, though he enumerates the other four species of this 
genus.) 
(Amaranthus retroflexus, L., has been found in Sark.) 
CHENOPODIACEAE. 
*Suaeda fruticosa, Forsk. Shrubby Sea Biite. 
Extinct. 
In Journ. Bot. 1877, p. 307, Mr. G. C. Druce has reported the 
finding of this plant, which was ‘ growing sparingly by the side of 
St. Sampson’s Saltpans in June last, Polypogon monspeliensis being 
