Mar. 1911.] BOTANICAL SOCIETY OF EDINBURGH 169 
of the Bedford Level is the total absence of heather or ling, 
which cover so many acres both of dry and wet moorland 
elsewhere. This may be due to the alkaline character of 
the soil, which probably also precludes the growth of the 
Cranberry (Vacconiwm Oxycoccos) and the Bog Orchis 
(Malaxis paludosa), while permitting that of the corre- 
sponding Fen Orchis (Liparis Loeselii). To a similar cause 
we may assign the great rarity of Sphagnum, only found in 
minute quantity at Chippenham, while it is represented in 
the Level generally by a low-growing form of Hypnum. 
It will be seen from what has been already said that 
Scotland can show a much greater variety of plant-life 
in general in her moors and marshes than can the Fenland, 
though Wicken Fen itself is richer than any one spot that 
we are able to name in the North. It will be well, there- 
fore, to conclude this paper by mentioning some well-known 
plants, without which an account of the Fenland can hardly 
be considered complete. 
The most notable are doubtless the two extinct Groundsels, 
Senecio paludosus and S. palustris, of which the former 
still grew at Wicken in the middle of last century. Sonchws 
palustris, generally coupled with them, and fortunately 
still existing in Oxfordshire and Kent, is a marsh rather 
than a fen plant, and may possibly be a survivor of 
ancient woodland country. Selinwm carvifoliwm, first 
discovered as a British plant at Chippenham and un- 
doubtedly native there, has only since been reported from 
Horncastle in Lincolnshire. Limnanthemuwm peltatwm is 
extremely abundant in some of the water-courses, especi- 
ally in the West or Old Ouse and the Bedford Rivers. 
Stratiotes aloides almost fills some of the pits and invades 
the neighbouring channels, while Tewcriwm Scordium still 
exists in a few places, though apt to disappear suddenly in 
a somewhat curious manner. 
None of these are native Scottish plants. But we may 
make many comparisons in other cases. For instance, the 
Marsh Pea (Lathyrus palustris) is plentiful at Wicken, and 
the Fen Violet (Viola stagnina) not uncommon there and 
at Woodwalton; but Lathyrus macrorhizus and Viola 
palustris are absolutely unknown throughout the Bedford 
Level. We have already mentioned Liparis as representing 
