861 



Immediately after leaving the houses we find Tragus racemosus, and 

 higher up Fedia coronata. Crossing the ridge, and a cultivated val- 

 ley, we reach a second woody bluff where Helianthemum Fumana (or 

 procumbens) is exceedingly abundant. Proceeding in the same man- 

 ner we mount a third woody point, after passing in the bottom the 

 road to la Ferte, which is characterized by the size and abundance 

 of Ononis Columnse, and on the top by the quantity of Micropus 

 erectus and of Orchideae, for which however I was too late, except for 

 Satyrium hircinum and an Epipactis. 



The Micropus is nearly wanting on the two first hills. The upper 

 part of the fourth point offers us Carthamus mitissimus, and on its 

 foot, in a sandy wood which descends into the plain, an Orobanche, 

 which some of my botanical friends thought to be O. arenaria. On 

 examining it more at leisure, and comparing it with a specimen of O. 

 arenaria from Montpellier, it appears to me a variety of O. caerulea, 

 with blunter divisions to the lower lip, and the upper toothed, but 

 nearly entire. 1 did not go any further, but there are three other 

 points of the same nature well worth an examination, and we might 

 then walk to Etrechy, two leagues from Etampes, and return by the 

 rail-road. The only interesting plants I have seen at Etampes, not 

 included in this walk, are Teucrium montanum, Linum montanum 

 and Trigonella monspeliaca ; and I should think it probable that a 

 further investigation would yield these also. The two first seem to 

 prefer a calcareous soil, and would be found in a walk begun by cross- 

 ing the marshes of the Juine by a foot-path, and keeping among the 

 woods to the right. I did not go far in this direction, and about Or- 

 moy la Riviere, the hills do not appear interesting. Further up the 

 valley they are again more promising. Just beyond the first hollow, 

 opposite to a mill before reaching Ormoy, are some banks which seem 

 exceedingly rich in Orchideae ; and if Orchis variegata had got into 

 the Norman Flora by anything but a mistake, I should expect to find 

 it here. There are some barren slopes stretching from Briere les Scel- 

 lees towards Champigny, which will yield Trigonella monspeliaca, 

 and perhaps something else ; at the foot I observed Arnoseris mini- 

 ma : I passed along it in the rain. In the fields at the top I noticed 

 the Polycnemum, and above St. Martin de la Roche, Trifolium glome- 

 ratum, which is considered a prize by the Parisian botanists. At St. 

 Martin is Leonurus Cardiaca, but I did not see the L. Marrubiastrum, 

 said to be found near Etampes. At St. Hilaire, Carthamus mitissi- 

 mus is abundant ; and in the fields on the plain above, Targionia la- 

 tifolia. In a rocky sandy bit of wood in the way, the Trigonella also 



