1099 



hurst side of the bridge, and on the left hand crossing over it to go to- 

 wards Lyndhurst. Pursuing the downward course of the stream, we find 

 the plant again under the wooden railway viaduct between the bridge 

 and Brockenhurst Mill, and in this part of the river I may mention 

 grows plenty of Ribes nigrum, in an unquestionably native state. A 

 little below the mill the Leersia shows itself for the third time, and 

 may be found in plenty in an expansion of the river between the 

 wooden bridge across the ford, a couple of hundred yards at most 

 from the mill, and where the stream enters Brockenhurst Paik under 

 some heavy palings placed across it, not a weir, as stated in the for- 

 mer account. Within these palings, and consequently in the park, 

 the Leersia speedily becomes more abundant than ever, forming 

 patches by itself of several feet in length, and so continues at intervals 

 for perhaps half the extent of the park, when it ceases rather abruptly, 

 as I was unable to trace a single plant lower down, towards Boldre 

 Bridge, where the water becomes saltish, not even at Royden Farm or 

 Hayward Mill, where the current is quite fresh. I have tracked the 

 main stream of the Boldre River, above Brockenhurst Bridge, very 

 nearly up to Lyndhurst, but find none of the Leersia along auy part 

 of its course, which, however, is chiefly between steep water-worn 

 banks, and therefore not fitted for the production of this plant, which 

 delights in the swampy, grass-grown margins of rivers, where such 

 species as Phalaris arundinacea and Phragmitis communis flourish. I 

 have since searched the upper part of the Beaulieu River, and several of 

 the smaller forest streams, but without meeting with the Leersia, which, 

 however, I am confident must exist in more localities than those in 

 which it has yet been detected with us. In particular I should ex- 

 pect it in the Avon and Stour, and their tributaries, as also in the 

 streams and ditches that intersect the great marshy valley between 

 Christchurch and Fordingbridge, about Ringwood, &c. It should 

 likewise be looked for in our mill pools and the large ponds, of which 

 we have so many on the forest lands in east and west Hants. 



the plant flowers and fruits freely, trailing on the damp but not overflowed soil, 

 although much smaller and less luxuriant than at Brockenhurst Bridge, where it 

 grows submerged, and fructifies much more sparingly. A search for this and the 

 Leersia will lead the botanist into some of the most lovely and secluded forest scenery 

 in Europe, into shades as solitary and primaeval as the back woods of America, where 

 he may wander for miles and for hours together without meeting a human creature, 

 through groves and glades of brave old oaks and beecheB, with no underwood to im- 

 pede his steps. 



