I860.] SONCHUS PALUSTillS. 311 



The locality for tlie summer Suowflake, as then and there re- 

 corded^ produces the Sonchus in great abundance and luxuriance. 

 Tliose who have once seen the latter here will never afterwards 

 confound any state of S. arvensis with this very well distin- 

 guished species. The marsh Sow-Thistle is at least twice as 

 tall as the S. arvensis is ; its stem is perfectly straight, and, as 

 the old botanists described it, "a little thicker than a man's 

 thumb." It has a few short branches at or very near the top of 

 the stem, and the flowers are corymbous. The leaves, and espe- 

 cially the basal lobes, aflFord the most obvious and certain dis- 

 tinctive marks between the two species. There are said to be 

 differences in the structure of the stems. Will any one be good 

 enough to compare them, and publish the result of his com- 

 parison ? 



The way to the locality where both this Sonchus and the 

 Leucojum grow, (they do not flower at the same time ; there is 

 three months' difference in their flowering; but they may be 

 probably found both at the same period, viz. the Snowflake in 

 flower, and the Sonchus just putting forth its radical leaves,) is 

 as described below. The visitor — it is to be hoped that he .is 

 not an extirpator, nor exterminator, nor eradicator, nor rapa- 

 cious collector — may leave the railway either at the Woolwich 

 Arsenal station or at the Abbey Wood station. In either con- 

 tingency the stranger should go direct to the river, along the 

 Artillery practising-grouud. On the right he will observe a 

 recently-erected brick building — probably a powder-magazine — 

 where there is a landing- wharf. The way to the Sonchus and 

 Leucojum station is along the river-bank, having the Woolwich 

 exercise-ground on the left, and the river on the right hand. 

 Before reaching the wooden fence which prevents the pedestrian 

 from advancing further in the direction of Woolwich, in a place 

 which is now (August, the 20th) covered with reeds, the usual 

 herbage of this part of the marsh, which is between the bank 

 and the flood, the Sonchus is sprinkled all over the place, just 

 topping the tall reeds, or appearing between them. The extent 

 of this flat or mud-bank is very considerable, but its length is 

 much larger than its breadth. But large though the space be, 

 there is no part along the bank from which the Sonchus cannot 

 be distinctly seen. The bank itself, on the crown or apex, 

 abounds with Lactuca saligna, Torilis nodosa, etc., and at the 



