59 
NEW PUBLICATIONS. 
_ The Flora of Essex. By George Stacey Gibson, F.L.S. 
sms London: Pamplin. 1862. (pp. 469.) 
Taking Professor Babington’s recent Flora of Cambridgeshire as 
his acknowledged model, Mr. Gibson has drawn up a full and satis- 
factory catalogue of the plants of his own county. Though there exists 
uo older ‘Flora of Essex,’ the county is not without its historical asso- 
ciations. The father of English botany, John Ray, was born and edu- 
cated in Essex, and returned to spend his old age in his native village 
of Black Notley. Ray’s friend Samuel Dale and Richard Warner are 
among the botanical worthies who in old time herborized on the same 
ground. Above all, the lamented Edward Forster gave much time to 
exploring the botany of his native county ; and, as we learn from Mr. 
Gibson, he had taken some steps in the preparation of a Flora. To all 
these honoured names our author has done full justice, both in his 
biographical appendix and by citing their observations whenever of 
sufficient interest. 
he wild plants already found in Essex amount to no less than 1070 
Species; a proof at once of the botanical richness of the county, and of 
the time bestowed on examining the ground, as well as of the care taken 
to incorporate all that could be gleaned from ancient and modern au- 
thorities. Four of our British plants are peculiar to Essex,—Lathyrus 
hirsutus, Galium V. aillantii, Bupleurum falcatum, and Lathyrus tube- 
rosus,—the last recently found growing among corn-crops near Fyfield. 
Of these, only the first, in our opinion, can be accepted as truly native, 
and we are disposed to think that there are a few other cases where the 
mark of suspected naturalization had been well deserved. We would 
Instance Fumaria parviflora and F. Vaillantii, Filago Gallica, Melilotus 
arvensis, Valerianella carinata, all “colonists” or roadside weeds. 
Asparagus officinalis also can hardly be held native in the stations given. 
The position of Galium Parisiense, Senecio viscosus, and of some of the 
alices, is open to similar suspicion. It is true that the advantage of 
‘challenging the agrestal weeds as interlopers is open to question, and 
the length to which excessive suspicion may go is well shown by 
Kirschleger’s «Flore d'Alsace, in which book SfeZaria media, Carda- 
mine hirsuta, Galium Aparine, Veronica hederifolia, and even Polygonum 
aviculare are considered naturalized. sy 
