A W^^•TER S R.\3IBLE. 



77 



A W I N T E E ' S E A :\I B L E 



BY THE REV, JOHN CAS'tt'EEL. 



I have thought that it would prove interesting to put before the 

 readers of the Midland Natubalist, and especially those who are fond 

 of Botany, the results of a ramble in the neighbourhood of Birmingham 

 during the iirst week of the new year. Several paragraphs had appeared 

 in the newspapers of that week, caUing attention to the fact that 

 primroses and violets were already in flower. I notice also that a coiTes- 

 pondent (E. W. B.) in the February number of the magazine gives a hst of 

 flowers gathered from his garden on Christmas-day last. The mildness 

 of the present winter naturally led us to expect that the winter and 

 early spring flowers would blossom sooner than usual; and, therefore, 

 one was not altogether surprised to hear of pi-imroses and violets having 

 already appeared. But the addition given by E. W. B. is one worthy 

 of notice, as it is evidence not only of a mild winter, but of a very mild 

 autumn also ; othex'u-ise, such flowers as roses, stocks, mignonette, &c., 

 would not be in blossom at this season of the j'ear, as in the nature of 

 things they are killed by the frosts and cold nights which usually 

 characterise the autiman season. I therefore venture to add to the hsts 

 already given the plants I found in flower during the first week of 

 January last. For some years I have made a ramble duiing that par- 

 ticular week, and always in the same locahty, in order to note what 

 plants were in bloom, as a record of the rnildness or severity of the 

 autumn and winter seasons, and for other reasons. Whilst in preceding 

 years I have not found on an average more than twelve plants in flower 

 in the district to which I hmited my survey, this year I have recorded 

 upwards of eighty British wild flowers, besides an unusually large 

 number of garden flowers. The following is the Hst : — 



Caltha palustris. 

 Hellebonis fcetidtia. 

 Capsella Bursa-pastoris. 

 Draba vema. 

 Cardamine hirsuta. 

 Barbarea vulgaris. 

 Sisymbrium officinale. 

 Cheiranthus Cheiri. 

 Sinapis arvensis. 

 "Viola odorata. 

 Viola tricolor. 

 Lychnis vespertina. 

 Sagina procumbens. 

 Stellaria media. 

 Stellaria graminea. 

 Axenaria trinervis. 

 Cerastium viscosum. 

 Cerastium vulgatum. 

 Geranium sanguineum. 

 Geranium moUe. 

 Geranium Kobertianum. 

 TJlex Euxopaeus. 

 Ulex nanus. 

 Vicia hirsuta. 



Geum urbanum. 

 Alchemilla arvensis. 

 Spergula arvensis. 

 Sedum reflexum. 

 ChaerophyUum temulen- 



tum. 

 Hedera Helix. 

 Galium aparine. 

 Sonchus oleraceus. 

 Crepis virens. 

 Leoutodon Taraxacum. 

 Lapsana communis. 

 Carduus nutans. 

 Senecio vulgaris. 

 Bellis perecnis. 

 Chrysanthemum Leucan- 



themum. 

 Matricaria Parthenium. 

 Matricaria inodora. 

 Anthemis nobilis. 

 Arbutus Unedo. 

 Ilex aqnifollum. 

 Myosotis coUina. 

 .Veronica hedercefolia. 



Veronica Buxbanmii. 

 Veronica agrestis. 

 Teucrium Scorodonia. 

 Ballota nigra. 

 Lamium album. 

 Lamium purpureum. 

 Lamium amplexicaule. 

 Primula vulgaris. 

 Armeria maritana, 



gardens.) 

 Plantago major. 

 Plantago Coronopua. 

 Polygonum aviculare. 

 Euphorbia Peplus. 

 Euphorbia helioscopla. 

 Buxus sempervirens. 

 Urtica urens. 

 Galanthus nivalis. 

 Luzula campestris. 

 Callima vulgaris. 

 Erica cinerea. 

 Spergularia rubra. 

 Daphne mezereon. 

 Scleranthus annuus. 



(in 



In addition to these, I have found several species of Eubus, 

 Eumex, Cyperaceae, Juncacese, and Gramineae. This list will, I dare 

 say, cause surprise to some, and perhaps doubt ; but in all cases, except 

 one or two, the specimens I gathered were verj' good ones, and would not 

 have disgraced any collector's herbarium. I have not included plants 

 found in bud, though I have taken a note of them, nor those in fruit, 

 whose petals had evidently just fallen ; but only those actually in 

 blossom. I found them all within a few miles of Birmingham. I had 

 not the opportunity to wander through Sutton Park, or doubtless some 



I 



