.",1 THE i'I.oka OF WARWICKSHIRE. 



riches of the county. Be aays : " Though T have lived for some years 

 in this county, yet have I met with no peculiar plants growing 

 therein." Eia earliest notes are bo be found in his itineraries. Under 

 the I Bth, 1662, he says: "From Northampton we rode 



through Hill Morton and Rugby to Coventry, thence to Coleshill, and 

 then to Middle ton. On a hank by the wayside we found a kind of 

 ii, uiih a bright purple flower. Monday, May the 12th, we rode 

 out to Sutton Cofield, where is a close called the Park Close, belonging 

 tut; iool. Here we found Lunaria minor (Botrychium lunaria, 



Sw.i in great plenty." In his correspondence, in a letter addressed 

 bo Mr. Lister, dated Middleton, Nov. 15th, 1669, he also mentions two 

 or three more plants, namely, Empetrum nigrum, Alchemilla vulgaris, 

 and Polygonum Bistorta, as occurring near Middleton. 



In 1670 Ray published his •• Catalogus Plantarum Anglian, etc.," in 

 which he gives stations for a few of the more rare plants of the 

 county, chiefly from the neighbourhood of Dostliill, Tamworth, and 

 Middleton. These will be noticed in their proper places. Edition 2, 

 lt',77. Mr. Newbould informs me, does not seem to differ from Ed. 1, 

 BO far as Warwickshire is concerned. 



In 1695 Bishop Gibson published his 1st Edition cf "Camden's 

 Britannia," in which on pp. 515-516 he publishes a list compiled by 

 Raj . headed thus : !' More Rare Plants growing wild in Warwickshire." 

 In this list stations are given for about fourteen of our more local 

 plants. The various editions through which this work passed contained 

 this list without verbal alteration. 



"Magna Britannia et Hibernia," Vol. V.. pp. 879-80 (1730) contains 

 the above information in an abridged form. 



•• Gough's Camden's Britannia," Vol. II., p. 350(1789) has the above, 

 with three or four additional plants. This list is beaded, " Pare plants 

 in Warwickshire." 



Borne of these plants are still to be found in the stations given by 

 : others, however, notably Osmunda regalis, appear to be missing. 



In 177i'. Withering published the first edition of his " Systematic 

 Arrangement of British Plants," in which may be found Warwickshire 

 ral of the more rare species. Among the flowering 

 plants th' se records are few and far between. His attention was, ap- 

 parently, mostlj devoted to the Fungi, of which he records a fairly good 

 list. In the later editions of the above work few alterations are to be 

 observed. As Withering lived for many years at an easy distance from 

 Sutton Coldfield it is somewhat remarkable that he should give so few 

 of the plam ' • bhal locality . 



hi lso.", Turner and Dillwyn published "The Botanist's Guide 



through England and Wales.' - In Vol. II., pp. 633-637, is a list of about 



forts live of the rarer plants of Warwickshire, given on the authority of 



Withering, and bhen living. The copy 1 have 



of this work fonn.ily belonged to Professor J. Power, ti native, I 



\ i ataing many MS, notes ou the botany of 



