INTRODUCTORY. 1 1 



near the town called Granswick [now Cranswick], great store 

 of Carum {i.e. Carum Carvi = Carraway) ; it grows in many 

 places about this town, and in some places of the Fens in 

 Lincolnshire." Furthermore he writes, "The south block- 

 house [of Hull, then fortified] which commands the Humber 



is in good repair On the top of the walls of this last 



we observed the common pink in great plenty." The sea- 

 pink, or thrift, is still common on the shores of the estuary 

 not far away, but the block-house has long since vanished 

 and no true pink now grows wild in the district. 



By far the most numerous of the earliest records of East 

 Riding plants were made by Robert Teesdale, F.L. S. (died 

 1804), some time chief gardener at Castle Howard, near 

 Malton, and just within the North Riding. Teesdale, after 

 whom the cruciferal genus, "Teesdalia," is named, con- 

 tributed two excellent papers to the Linnean Society in 

 the years 1792 and 1798, which will be found amongst the 

 transactions of this premier Botanical Society — Teesdale 

 seems to have been a foundation member. The first paper, 

 styled " Plantse Eboracences," deals only with the rarer 

 plants found within a radius of fifteen miles of Castle 

 Howard. The second, with the same title, purports to 

 supplement the first, and deals with the flora of the whole 

 county. In both papers many references are made to Hull, 

 Beverley, the Humber banks, Hornsea, Houghton Moor, &c. 

 And Teesdale, together with a few coadjutors, seems to have 

 practically worked these districts, for he writes: — "In a 

 meadow called Derricoats [now Dairycoates], near Hull, is 

 found Carex divisa, and I have never found it anywhere else." 

 Altogether the two catalogues contain gio species of the 

 higher plants [Ferns and Flowering Plants]. Many of the 

 rarer ones with East Riding stations, we are pleased to say 

 for the honour of the older botanists, have been verified by 

 recent workers a hundred years later. But the above men- 

 tioned instance at Dairycoates is, we fear, an example of 

 what has overtaken many of the interesting species of 

 Teesdale's lists. The drainer, agriculturalist, and builder 

 have exterminated many of our native plants. 



The year 1805 saw the publication of Messrs. Dillwyn & 

 Turner's "Botanists' Guide through the Counties of England 

 and Wales. " Under ' ' Yorkshire " the compilers acknowledge 

 their indebtedness to the work of Mr. Robert Teesdale above 

 mentioned ; and the greater number of East Riding records 

 are subscribed by his name. There are, however, several 

 others that are authorities for certain plants, some of whom 



