853 



Art. CXCV. — Notes of a Boianical Excursion in France, in the 

 Summer of 1843. By Joseph Woods, Esq., F.L.S. 



(Concluded from page 834). 



I did not pursue any systematic course at Malesherbes, but made 

 short trips as it suited M. Barnard to accompany me, to point out the 

 localities. But I will present the results of my observations in a more 

 regular form. I will suppose the botanist, therefore, to begin by 

 crossing the river, and taking a road to the right, examine some rocks 

 and sandy banks on the right bank of the valley. This was in fact 

 the first walk I took with M. Barnard. Here he may find Osmuuda 

 regalis, a remarkable station, as the rocks in general are very dry ; 

 Asplenium viride, Tragus racemosus, and in the neighbourhood of a 

 little spring on the upper part of the slope, Helosciadium repens, 

 Botrychium Lunaria, and Schoenus compressus. The Helosciadium 

 is different from any English specimens which I have seen. It has 

 properly no stem, but throws out runners, which produce at the same 

 points roots, leaves and umbels ; yet 1 would not be very positive 

 that it is specifically distinct from H. nodiflorum. On the top of the 

 sand rocks a little beyond this spring grows Juncus capitatus ; and a 

 little higher up, on the stony ground, abundance of Epipactis atro- 

 rubens. The habit of the plant, as well as its smaller leaves and dark 

 purple flowers, and earlier time of flowering (June), strongly indicate 

 a specific diflerence from E. latifolia, of which there is abundance in 

 the same place, but not opening its flowers until the other is quite 

 over. We also find here Helianthemum pulverulentum, and T think 

 apenninum, the latter of which is perhaps a white-flowered variety of 

 H. vulgare. H. polifolium, as figured in ' English Botany,' differs in 

 its sepals, which are rounded at the top. At this point M. Barnard 

 left me, but we may descend into the marsh and cross it to Ronceval. 

 The principal rarities, as is often the case with the Botany of bogs 

 and marshes in France, consisted of plants more common in England 

 than here : here are Carex dioica and pulicaris, and several other spe- 

 cies are said to be found, but the marsh was everywhere full of water, 

 and though one may go up to one's knees for the certainty of a rare 

 plant, yet one does not like to do so for the chance of a species con- 

 sidered rare by the French botanists, and the additional chance that 

 it would not be so considered by an English one. All the Carices 

 that I did see, were in very bad condition, and it was apparently a 

 bad year for them. Neottia spiralis is found in these marshes at a 



