184 KENTISH BOTANY. [June, 



Botanists who have heen in Cornwall, report it as being truly- 

 wild about the Land's End. It can hardly be more wild than it 

 is in most parts of south Kent. 



On our return from Richboro' towards Sandwich, we met with 

 the same (Enothera ; but as the evening was now more advanced, 

 it showed many more open flowers, and like Buttercups in June, 

 "would be seen whether we would or no." It was well esta- 

 blished all down the steep declivity, and had taken possession of 

 the grassy borders of the railway. Like the (Enothera biemiis, 

 it delights in railway embankments ; and like the more common 

 species, it is evidently increasing ; but it is a much more orna- 

 mental and neater plant than the commoner species. It will 

 probably soon force itself on our notice, and also obtain a place 

 among our excluded species. It will intrude whether we like it 

 or not, and if it is not honoured with a name and a place among 

 our spontaneous plants, it will continue to spread notwithstand- 

 ing, and sometimes will find a place, as at Richboro', which it 

 bids fair to retain. It is to be wished that it may also obtain 

 historians who may not be ashamed to admit its humble preten- 

 sions to historic fame. Conium maculatum was another not un- 

 common species seen in this locality. 



About the precincts of Sandwich, and in some parts of the 

 town, Drplotaxis muralis, Phalaris canariensis, and Sinapis nigi'a 

 were observed. The Canary Grass was not nearly so common as 

 it is near London.* 



* This fact affords an instructive lesson to those who volunteer to instruct their 

 less informed brethren in the mysterious doctrines about the distribution or dis- 

 persion of plants. It has been generally reported in boots descriptive of the Isle of 

 Thanet, that this plant, the Canary Grass, is extensively cultivated in the north- 

 east corner of Kent. This fact must be taken for granted, for we cannot confirm 

 it. But we can assure our readers that the Canary Grass which grows so com- 

 monly in many parts near London is not " an escape from cultivation." 



Some of these escapes from cultivation are quite as wonderful as many of the 

 wondrous accounts of the appearance of strange plants where they had never 

 appeared before. They are more so, because most of these plants called escapes 

 were never cultivated ; nor are they worth cultivation, either for use or for orna- 

 ment. Sandwich, where a single plant of Canary Grass was seen in September, 

 1860, is not far from the Isle of Thanet, where this grass is said to be extensively 

 produced. The vicinity of London, where thousands of specimens may be easily 

 collected, is far from the centre of its cultivation, or " the tyi^e of its distribution." 

 Why is it so common near London and so rare near Thanet ? The answer is easy ; 

 London is the great emporium of the empire. All, or nearly all, the harvest or 



