I860.] ISATIS TINCTORIA. • 233 



1852 ; the plant covered double the area it occupied in 1829. In 1852 

 this same patch of plants was observed by H. L. de La Chaumette in the 

 same station, and the supposed discovery communicated to the ' Phytolo- 

 gist.' See vol. iv. pp. 519, 520, o.s. In vol. i., same series, it appears 

 at p. 520 as a discovery made at Howick, Northumberland, by the mem- 

 bers of the Berwickshire Naturalists' Club, in 1842. 



In Park's History of Hampstead, this pretty plant and interesting 

 addition to the British Flora is mentioned, or rather recorded, among the 

 wild plants of this district. In 1843, Mr. Edward Edwards, of Bexley, 

 Kent, published his observations and remarks on the Hampstead locality 

 of this plant ; and the same author says, " A year or two before this time 

 (1843), I observed it under Eir-trees, in Apsley Wood, Bedfordshire, which 

 is but a short walk from the town of Woburn."* 



It appears that this plant is far from being new to the British Elora. 

 See Johnson's Gerard, p. 409. Our old herbalist states that " it is found in 

 Lancashire, in Dingley Wood, six miles from Preston in Auldirnesse, and 

 in Harwood, near Blackburn, likewise. It floureth in May, and the fruit 

 is ripe in September." 



Parkinson states that " it groweth in moist, shadowie, and grassie 

 places of woods in many places of the realme." 



This plant was known to Lobel (see his Observationes et Adversaria, 

 161, 127, respectively). Loudon was probably mistaken in giving 1596 as 

 the date of its introduction into Britain. Whether the plant be alien or 

 native, it is not unknown as a spontaneous British species, for it has been 

 described by many botanists since the middle of the sixteenth centuiy, and 

 has been seen and recorded by many living observers of our wild plants. 



ISATIS TINCTOEIA. 



On the Discovery q/^Isatis tinctoria at New Wandsworth Station. 

 By John Lloyd. 



About the middle of last month (June, 1860) I had the plea- 

 sure of discovering a new locality for this very rare British plant, 

 and which I have the honour of announcing to the readers of 

 the ' Phytologistj' and through them to the botanists of Great 

 Britain. 



Two stations for this uncommon plant have recently appeared 

 in the periodical just mentioned — not receat discoveries, as this 



* Both these observers state that the plant grows under Fir-trees in Ken Wood ; 

 but this is not quite correct. There are Fir-trees at no great distance from the 

 patch of Maianthemum, but the plants are not under them. 



N. S. VOL. IV. 2 H 



