1126 



Crepis biennis (the true plant). Chalky banks near Littlebuiy, rare. 



Hypochoeris maculata. Open hills near Hilclersham. 



Mentha viridis and piperita. Ditch-banks near Old Sampford. 



M. gentilis ? Road-side near Walden. 



Cuscuta Epilinum. Very destructive to the crop of flax in a field 

 near Thaxted. 



C. Trifolii has not been noticed here this year on clover, but I 

 found it on a bank in the field where it was first discovered, growing 

 on Centaurea Scabiosa, Achillaea Millefolium, Convolvulus arvensis, 

 and other plants within its reach, indiscriminately. There has been 

 no clover in the field for two years, so that it does not seem to confine 

 its attacks to that plant, or to require its presence. 



Symphytum asperrimum. Duck-street, between Audley End and 

 Littlebury. It has grown there for several years, but probably may 

 have been originally introduced with rubbish from some garden. 



Chenopodium urhicum. Rubbish-heaps, rare. 



Atriplex deltoidea. Ditch-banks in the Park, sparingly. 



Rumex pratensis. Ditches near the Thaxted road. This plant, if 

 rightly named, and I have the authority of an eminent botanist for be- 

 lieving it to be so, I cannot think other than a variety of R. obtusifo- 

 lius, as the form of the enlarged petals is very variable, even on the 

 same plant; and there are gradations from the long, ligulate form of 

 R. obtusifolius, to the small, triangular one of R. pratensis : the 

 breadth of the leaves is also uncertain.* 



Populus canescens. Near Chesterford-common. 



Allium ursinum. Nun's wood, Walden. 



Carex strigosa. Ditto, raie. 



C. losvigata. Burton-wood, near Chesterford. 



PJdeum Boehmeri. Dry hills among sand, at Hildersham, but now 

 very scarce, the land being mostly enclosed and cultivated. Can any 

 of your correspondents point out any other good localities for this 

 grass in other parts of England, or is it confined to a small district in 

 Cambridgeshire ? 



* It is curious to notice the differences in the descriptions of R. obtusifolius, given 

 by Hooker and Babington. The former says that the whorls are " rather close, some- 

 what leafy ^'' the latter that they are " distant, leafless ; '' such a discrepancy is remark- 

 able, but the fact is, that specimens maij be found agreeing with either of these de- 

 scriptions. As far as my observation has extended, the whorls are generally more or 

 less leafy, but vary extremely in distance. Surely then such variable characters should 

 not be introduced as distinctive peculiarities of the species, as they must tend to per- 

 plex rather than assist the young observer. 



