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Isatis tinctoria " can scarce be said to have acquired so permanent a 

 possession of its localities as would justify its reference to the cate- 

 gory of denizens. Localities may be found recorded in Botanical 

 Guides ; but in how many of such localities the plant itself would 

 now be found, I cannot venture to say." It is a pity that a fact 

 should not be established by inquiry instead of remaining in a state 

 of uncertainty. The station of the precipitous face of the red marl 

 cliff at the Mythe Tout, above Tewkesbury, where the Severn divides 

 Worcestershire and Gloucestershire, appears in the list of plants I 

 sent to the ' New Botanist's Guide,' as edited by Mr. Watson, several 

 years ago, and large specimens were sent at a later period to the Lon- 

 don Botanical Society. Why I think this locality very remarkable 

 is, that the lofty marl cliff here is terminated southward by a tumulus 

 or mount of worship, dedicated of old, as its name implies, to the idol 

 Teutates. Now as a boy 1 became acquainted with the vvoad on the 

 marl cliflf without knowing its botanical name prior to 1818, as occur- 

 ring year after year. Here again, from proximity of residence, I was 

 enabled to observe it in splendour of flowering each year from 

 1836 to 1841, and on my information Mr. Thomas Westcombe, of 

 Worcester, has gathered it at the Mythe Tout since that time, when it 

 was very abundant, and there a relative tells me it still was last year. 

 There is no recollection of the woad ever having been cultivated about 

 Tewkesbury, and on the marl cliff, where it grows, extensive pastures 

 only appear on either side of the river and on the summit of the cliff. 

 This then would seem an undeniable place of wild growth, luiless it 

 be supposed possible that it is a lingerer from Celtic cultivation. In 

 France the woad appears to be considered a native without any doubt. 

 The soapwort (Saponaria officinalis), certainly but little used at 

 present officinally, although having the brand, and said to be found 

 " especially near cottages," might surely have been allowed to pass 

 muster with the red currant [Ribes ruhrum) and gooseberry [R. gros- 

 sularia), which are lucky enough to escape with the mild remark of 

 " scarcely indigenous." This star in one very dubious case, and the 

 omission in others, yet with the " scarcely," leaves matters in a very 

 unsatisfactory vvay. Currants and gooseberries it must be admitted 

 are rarely found except as individual stragglers, mostly about brooks 

 and water-courses, but the soapwort extends itself in truly wild loca- 

 lities for long distances. It occurs in numerous patches on the 

 banks of the Severn, and in profusion on the side of the gravelly Usk, 

 near Crickhowel, in Breconshire. I have several times met with it, 

 too, in bushy places in the midst of woods. It seems to be forgotten 



