153 FEN AND DITCH PLANTS OF NORFOLK. {.'^^O'V) 



escaped into a field adjoining the garden, where I saw a plant in 

 bloom last summer; and if they extend their radius, they may 

 in time establish themselves in the debris belonging to the chalk- 

 pits at Reigate Hill, which is scarce half a mile distant. 



Mr. Jos. Croucher, a young gardener who has paid some atten- 

 tion to British plants, discovered it in Sussex, in July last, upon 

 a bank near to the turnpike, by the side of the road between 

 Turner's Hill and Rowfant station. 



In a conversation which I had in August last with the intelli- 

 gent foreman of the Botanic Garden at Glasneven, he informed 

 me that it was not uncommon to meet with a stray plant or two 

 in the neighbourhood of Dublin, and he related to me an inter- 

 esting circumstance which came under his observation some years 

 ago. An old Elm was blown down, and the ground where it 

 had stood was deeply trenched. In the ensuing spring the fresh 

 exposed soil produced a quantity of Isatis tinctoria and Sinapis 

 nigra, neither of which plants had been before observed to grow 

 in the immediate vicinity. 



ON THE FEN AND DITCH PLANTS OF NORFOLK. 

 By W. Winter, of Aldby, Norfolk. 



The White Water-lily {JSIymphcea alba) abounds in the ditches 

 and broads (a local word for wide open drains) at Ranworth, 

 Horning, and South Walsham. This, the queen of British 

 plants, flowers here in June and July, and completely covers 

 hundreds of square yards with its broad handsome foliage and 

 its pure Avhite flowers, which in some states of the atmosphere 

 perfume the air with the most agreeable odours, to considerable 

 distances aroimd the places where it grows. It is occasionally 

 found in places whence peat has been dug. 



Its yellow and not quite so beautiful associate, the Yellow 

 Water-lily [Nuphar lutea), is equally common in all these parts. 

 These two plants may be distinguished by their leaves at all 

 times when these are fully developed. The leaves of the White 

 Water-lily are more circular than those of the Yellow; they are 

 rounded at the apex, and their cordate bases are not so diver- 



