922 



Warwickshire Habitat for Gagea lutea. By the 

 Rev. W. T. Bree, M.A. 



The yellow Ornithogalum (as it used to be called) may be considered, 

 I suppose, a plant of sufficient rarity to justify the record of a new lo- 

 cality in the ' Phytologist.' It is not mentioned by Withering, who 

 resided at Birmingham or in the neighbourhood, as a Warwickshire 

 plant ; nor is it enumerated by Purton as occurring in any of the mid- 

 land counties. Early in the present month I had the pleasure of ga- 

 thering roots of Gagea lutea abundantly in a meadow in the parish of 

 Sheldon, about six or seven miles from Birmingham, on the Coventry 

 road. The plants had been so grazed down by cattle, that little more 

 than the stumps of the leaves were to be found, except where they 

 had been protected by the bushes ; and a friend of mine who had 

 visited the spot a short time before, could meet with only two weak- 

 flowering specimens. The merit of the discovery of the plant in this 

 locality is due, I believe, to the Rev. Mr. Gorle, who mentioned it to 

 the friend who directed me to it. The Gagea grows under bushes on 

 the margin of a little brook about a quarter of a mile from the turn- 

 pike road, on the right hand side, going from Coventry towards 

 Birmingham. About a mile from the ' Cock ' at Elmdon, the brook 

 crosses the road, having come down from the grounds of Elmdon 

 Hall (also about a mile distant), the hospitable mansion of W. C. 

 Alston, Esq., who kindly accompanied myself and friend to the spot. 

 I regret to add that, in all probability, after the present year the 

 Gagea will be entirely destroyed from this locality ; a new brook 

 course, rivalling a Roman road for straightness and uniformity, has 

 been cut, and the old circuitous one, in spite of its natural beauties 

 and botanical treasures, is of course doomed to be filled up and its 

 banks stocked and leveled. I am informed, however, within these 

 few days that the Gagea occurs also in other spots lower down the 

 stream, where, let us hope, it may meet with a better fate, and long 

 remain for the gratification of botanists who may wish to see it growing 

 wild in Warwickshire. 



W. T. Bree. 

 Allesley Kectory, May 18, 1850. 



