66 FINAL NOTES. 
The oak of this county appears to be Q. pedunculata, Ehrh., as would seem 
likely to be the case from Dr. Moss's soil notes. This is the species, too, that 
I have identified in the ancient forests buried under the peat, alike on sands, 
gravels and clays. There can, however, be little doubt that Q. sessiliflora, 
Salisb., is native too with us at least in Nat. Hist. Div. 7. My reason for 
saying this is not merely because my friend Mr. F. A. Lees believed this to 
be the case as far back as 1878, but because I find in Divs. 3 and 7 a form 
which is partially hairy on the lower veins of the leaves. It may be the 
hybrid Q. pedunculata x sessiliflova but, I should judge, is the cross hybrid 
Q. pedunculata x (pedunculata x _ sessiliflora). Such forms are common 
enough with species which produce hybrids fertile alike with both parents. 
Again the form of Veronica agrestis, L., which for the sake of distinction 
I have recorded as ‘‘v. bottesfordiensis, Mihi.,"” and have known in garden 
soils since 1874, which the Revd. W. W. Mason, of Bootle, knows in this 
county almost as well as I do, seems to be nothing more than a state in the 
evolution of ‘‘ the flore albo form"’ of the type, with what Mr. F. A. Lees 
rightly styles ‘‘a different facies,"’ At least I have at last come across forms 
in tilth this season (1910), which show every fluctuation from the type to my 
characteristic variety on to the pure flora albo of both. 
The birches require special study in this county as elsewhere. Betula 
alba, L. seems to be wholly a dry light soil species, and B. tomentosa, Reith. 
and Abel., equally a wet light soil species. Mr. Augustine Henry, F.L.s., tells 
me that this is their continental distribution. It is an interesting fact which 
does not seem to have been pointed out in any flora or work on British trees. 
I have been very diffident about using the word ‘‘extinct,’’ unless a 
locality is absolutely destroyed, as by drainage the East Fen was for Sonchus 
palustris, L., it is almost impossible to say when a species will not turn up. 
A garden here was destroyed in 1875, and joined to a grass paddock which 
had never been under the plough, and was soon equally rich feeding grass. 
In the winter of 1908-09, part of the old white thorn fence dividing them 
which still remained was cut down, and in the 1909 season a single Verbascum 
plant appeared by the roots of one of the old thorn trees. It was the first 
time in the eighteen years that I have made a special study of this old garden 
for rock-soil purposes that I had seen a plant of this species. When it 
flowered it proved to be V. Thapsus x (Thapsus x Lychnitis)—a not 
uncommon garden cross-hybrid. If the cutting down of the old garden fence 
had not given this cross-hybrid seed, the chance of light, air and moisture—of 
growing, how many years would it have remained dormant and fertile? Can 
any botanist reply ? 
I desire to thank Mr. Richard W. Goulding, Librarian to His Grace the 
Duke of Portlafid, for most kindly reading the proofs of this pamphlet for me. 
When I printed off the ‘‘ Foreword’’ I did not know I should have his 
invaluable help. 
Es: A. WP: 
at aill 
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