THE PHYTOLOGIST. 



No. XXXII. 



JANUARY, MDCCCXLIV. 



Peice Is. 



Akt. CLXXXIV. — Notice of a Visit to Black Notletj, Essex, the 

 birth-place and residence of John Ray. By Joshua Clarke 

 and G. S. Gibson, Esqs. 



It was on a hazy morning in July that we started from Saffron 

 Walden on a botanical excursion, undertaken chiefly with the view 

 to visit the tomb of John Ray, and to explore the village which de- 

 rives its interest and celebrity from having been the birth-place of 

 that illustrious man, and his residence during a considerable portion 

 of his life. 



The first object of Natural History to be mentioned on the jour- 

 ney is, that at a short distance from the village of Sampford we ob- 

 served the Cuscuta which has lately been so destructive to clover 

 (Phytol. 753), committing great ravages in a field of that plant ; and 

 we have since been informed that it has destroyed about one fourth 

 of the crop. There is no doubt of its having been introduced with 

 foreign clover-seed, but whether it be a variety of C. Epithymum or 

 a distinct species, does not appear to be fully ascertained. It is a 

 plant of more vigorous growth, spreading itself in circular patches, 

 from four to ten feet in diameter. 



The village of Sampford is an excellent locality for Liliura Marta- 

 gon, where it now appears to be truly wild, both in a hedge and wood 

 in the neighbourhood. Seeing some fine ones in blossom in a cottage 

 garden, we asked the owner where he procured them ; and the reply 

 given was that he dug them up from a hedge in the lane, where they 

 grew plentifully. He further stated that they had been there ever 

 since he was a boy, probably about forty years. Up this lane, which 

 is bounded by high banks and old copse-like hedges, we gathered up- 

 wards of a dozen specimens in flower, and left as many remaining. 

 Near the same village we likewise saw Ranunculus parviflorus, Petro- 

 selinum segetum, Scirpus sylvaticus, and other plants. Pursuing our 

 journey, we noticed in the hedges near Dunmow, Ulmus major, whose 

 reflexed branches, winged with corky excrescences, can scarcely fail 

 to attract attention. On a common by this town we gathered Anagal- 

 lis tenella, Slum inundatum, Veronica scutellata, Mentha Pulegium, 



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