513 



marshes that in past times came up nearly to Worcester, and within 

 three miles of the Malvern chain. Yet this plant, generally so plen- 

 tiful within its peculiar limit, in some seasons is scarcely to be met 

 with, and a " wandering botanist" happening to come at such a time, 

 might feel distrust as to the occurrence of the plant at all in the 

 vicinity. 



Flowers indeed, under particular conditions, seem to swarm like 

 insects, and their assembled splendours are seldom to be seen again 

 under precisely similar circumstances. I remember being in Wyre 

 Forest, more than fourteen years ago, with my acutely observant friend 

 the Rev. Andrew Bloxam, when the glades of the forest were most 

 splendid with innumerable flowers of the elegant Cephalanthera ensi- 

 folia, indeed so brilliant an exhibition I scarcely ever saw; and hun- 

 dreds of plants might have been taken without being missed from the 

 scene. But on my last visit to the forest, in 1847, with some friends, 

 who had hoped with myself to see similar beauties, the scene was so 

 deplorably changed, that, though precisely at the right time of 

 flowering, our utmost efforts produced only two of the Cephalanthera, 

 after a long search. No doubt the felling of portions of underwood 

 on forest ground has a good deal to do with the appearance of plants, 

 which are completely choked by the growth of a dense mass of shrubs; 

 and the particular spot where some rare plants grow may lie blocked 

 up in this way for many years. The late Mr. Moseley sent Festuca 

 sylvatica, from Shrawley Wood, to Sir J. E. Smith, reporting it as not 

 rare in the wood, but only springing up and flowering when the cop- 

 pice was cut down. I have a specimen of the plant from Shrawley, 

 by the kindness of Miss Harriett Moseley, not now residing there ; 

 and yet, strange to say, though our Worcestershire botanists have 

 again and again investigated the wood, all have hitherto failed to re- 

 discover the plant, which yet doubtless is still lurking there. 



Drainage changes, however, really banish plants altogether, unless 

 a deep ditch or pool happens to be left where they can take shelter, 

 secure only in utter obscurity. If this is not the case they perish, 

 and the record of their former existence only remains ; and yet per- 

 haps that ought not to be forgotten, as telling of what the country 

 once had. Hypericum elodes* is mentioned by Dr. Stokes, in the 

 edition of Withering I have before adverted to, as growing on " Bir- 

 mingham Heath," where enclosures and buildings have long destroyed 

 it ; yet still almost within the dense smoke of Birmingham, on Mosely 



* This plant is now entirely absent from Worcestershire. 



Vol. hi. 3 x 



