974 



all the other woods betwixt Shanklin and Bonchurch, in Hatchet 

 Close and Cowpit Wood, &c. Excessively rank and profuse in the 

 high enclosed wood in Appuldurcombe Park, and equally so about 

 Gatcombe, under the trees in the wilderness or rookery. About Shor- 

 well, as at North Court, in the dell or hollow in which the mausoleum 

 stands ; in patches of copse about Cheverton farm, Idlecombe, &c. 

 Most profusely in Lorden, Barkhams and Bakerswood Copses, betwixt 

 Carisbrook and Shorwell, here, as in many other places, perfectly con- 

 cealing the ground to the utter exclusion of every other plant except- 

 ing the no less gregarious and usurping Mercurialis. Common in 

 Swainston woods and about Calborne, abundant in woods at Row- 

 ledge, and in fact in every patch of copse and thicket on the southern 

 slope and foot of the central chalk range in Westridge, Sluccombe, 

 Dewcombe Copses, &c, much too plentifully. Grounds at N orris 

 Castle, and in Barton Copse, near Osborne, abundantly, as well as in 

 other parts of the island occasionally. Either it is less common on 

 the mainland of Hants, or it has escaped my notice from the disap- 

 pearance of the leaves early in summer, as I have at present only the 

 few following stations to give : Longwood, Miss L. Legge ; Warnford, 

 Rev. E. M. Sladen ; Near Soberton Mill, Longwood, Rev. Messrs. 

 Garnier and Poulter in Hamps. Repos. ; Fontley ; bank near Wick- 

 ham road, Mr. W. L. Notcutt ; in Hawkley Hangers, near Selborne, 

 June, 1850. 



This plant is an abominable annoyance in our island woods in 

 spring and early summer, soon after which the leaves and scapes die 

 down, and cease to offend the botanical explorer by the rank odour 

 of garlic they exhale. Some of these woods are so completely filled 

 with it, that in looking along the ground, beneath the trees, one be- 

 holds only a uniform mantle of its leaves, which are often more than 

 a foot in length and nearly four inches wide, and so effectually ex- 

 clude the light from the soil below them, that nothing springs up to 

 relieve the rank monotonous exuberance of the repulsive herbage, the 

 odious scent of which, the profuse array of starry blossoms cannot 

 make amends for. In close damp weather an insufferable garlic smell 

 infects the confined air by direct exhalation from the plant, and 

 which is increased as it is trodden down and broken in passing 

 through the almost knee-high foliage. Its presence in woods, how- 

 ever, is innoxious compared with its intrusion upon pasture land, as is 

 too often the case in other parts of England, to the great detriment of 

 all dairy produce from fields so infested. Fortunately for our farmers 

 and graziers, the Bear's Garlic will only thrive here in damp and per- 



