32 PROCEEDINGS COTTESWOLD CLUB 1912 



After tea in Axminstcr, Champernhayes Marsh, between three and four 

 miles to the east of the town was visited. This bog contains a considerable 

 quantity of Sphagnum, which accounts for the occurrence of the little parasitic 

 orchid Malaxis ; but it was too early for it to be in bloom. To the Gloucester- 

 shire eye, the plants which were most unfamiliar were the three Sundews, the 

 Bog Asphodel, the white Beak-rush (Rhyiichospora alba) and the Butterwort 

 iPingiticiila lusitaiiica). The Bog .Asphodel (Narihcciiim) was in extraordi- 

 nary abundance. The botanical relations of this plant are interesting; its 

 nearest congeners are the liliaceous plants with their varied types of scent. 

 Its foliage is of a peculiar tender green and very soft and pleasant to the touch. 

 When picked, it lasts much longer than most wild flowers. The Sundews 

 were in quantity ; but it was necessary to get on to the bog to see them. The 

 white Beak-rush is a local sedge and worth mentioning because of its very 

 neat and tidy appearance. 



The other plant mentioned, the Butterwort. is not the same as that which 

 occurs in very great quantity on the Cotteswolds ; what was seen was 

 Pingtiictila Insitanica — a western plant, as its name endicatcs. Many other 

 plants were noted. Ranunculus Lennvmandi.'a. little water or mud buttercup 

 with white flowers ; Viola palustris, the Marsh Violet ; Lychnis floscuculi. 

 Ragged Robin ; Hypericum elodes. the Bog St. John's wort ; Ulex Gallii, the 

 Western Gorse ; numerous very beautiful and luxuriant forms of Bramble : 

 not the Marsh Cinquefoil, however, nor the Grass of Parnassus. Also, the 

 Marsh Pennywort, Uydr<icotyle ; the soft thistle of peaty moors ; the beautiful 

 Anagallis tenella or Bog pimpernel ; two forms of the Eyebright (Euphrasia), 

 very distinct in appearance ; the Skull cap, Sci'tellaria minor ; the little 

 creeping willow, Salix repens ; the great Orchis latifolia, almost entirely in 

 fruit ; Potamogeton polygonifolius, a favourite ])ond-wced of the heathlands , 

 and several of the sedge family, especially three species of the Cottongrass, 

 one of which, Eriophoruni vaginatu'H, is not recorded for Dorset in the second 

 edition of Mansel Pleydell's Flora. There were very few species of ferns, 

 but a little bed of stunted liquiselum maximum was seen at the lower part of 

 the bog. 



On Tuesday morning the President and Mr Riddelsdell went to West 

 Bay (Plate I\'., fig. i) and botanised on the little sandy and gravelly tracts 

 around the docks and shelters. The most notable feature was the abundance 

 of little rough clover, Trifolium scahrum — a species rare in Gloucestershire. 

 It is partial to seaside places, though not cjuite indiscriminate in its partiality, 

 for at Seatown not a vestige of this plant could be seen. It was entirely re- 

 placed by another and odder species, viz., Trifolium fragiferum. The heads of 

 this species swell in fruit into a curious form, which to our forefathers sug- 

 gested strawberries. Other interesting plants at West Bay were the true 

 Samjihire iCrithmum). whicii is turned into a pickle by some people. The plant 

 is said never to grow below high water level. .\ peculiar species of knotgrass 

 (Polygonum) confined to the coast, and not at all common, was growing on 

 the san.l ; perhaps more interesting is the fact that one of our commonest 

 plants, the Curled Dock, appears in a peculiar seaside development — its 

 branches are shortened and its fruit sepals show their tuberculous swellings 

 (one on each sepal) instead of only on one. There are many plants which are 

 changed by proximity to the sea not only in vegetative characters, but also 

 in important floral points. The common Herb-Robert, for instance, occurs 

 on the Ciiesil Beach in great quantities ; but there it is not a struggling 

 climber amongst other vegetation, but a small, round, very condensed plant, 

 with a long brownish-red diaphanous central taproot. The tiower is reduced, 

 and the characteristic smell is modified for the better. But, besides all this, 

 there are differences in the colour of the stamens, character of the fruit, &c., 

 which cannot be so easily explained by environment. Moreover, the same 

 common species varies differently in exactly similar situations on different 



