544 



Notes on Plants observed in the County of Essex during the year 

 1851. By E. G. Varenne, Esq. 



Myosurus minimus, L. Plentiful in gravelly fields in Great Brax- 

 ted, and at Layer Marney. 



Nymph cea olba, L. Not unfrequent in this portion of the county 

 of Essex, in ponds and in the parts of rivers adjacent to gardens, and 

 also near the water-mills, in which situations it presents a cultivated 

 appearance. But in the nooks of the Rhoden about Chigwell, where 

 the stream winds its course through the meadows, Nymphaea alba 

 abounds beneath the cool shade of the bushes. In this retired spot 

 it flourishes in graceful luxuriance, frequently accom))anied by a less 

 striking but very interesting water-plant, the Potamogeton lucens. 



Alyssum calycinnm, L. In a clover-field near Little Coggeshall 

 were many plants of this species last May. The seed from which the 

 clover was raised was supposed to have been of foreign growth. But, 

 be that as it rcay, I cannot help entertaining a lurking conviction that 

 the above-mentioned locality is not the only one in which I have ob- 

 served A. calycinum in the neighbourhood of Kelvedon, for the simi- 

 larity existing between Alyssum calycinum and Lepidium campestre 

 is so great at a distance, that something more than a passing glance is 

 required for discrimination between the two plants. 



Erysimum cheiranthoides, L. Not unfrequent in the neighbour- 

 hood of Colchester, in fields, and occasionally met with nearer Kelve- 

 don. It was growing about dung-heaps and elsewhere on a farm at 

 Inworth, and also in garden-ground in the same parish, last year. As 

 the oats used on the farm were stated to have been brought from the 

 fens, it is not impossible that the seed of the Erysimum was also intro- 

 duced with them. Whether this latter supposition be correct or not, 

 the plant appears perfectly at home, and has continued in flower 

 throughout the winter. 



Rosa stylosa, Desv., occurs here and there in hedges in the neigh- 

 bourhood of Kelvedon, evincing no decided partiality for any descrip- 

 tion of soil. When R. stylosa is trimmed regularly, and kept in a 

 dwarfish condition, its beautiful clusters of flowers are white, with a yel- 

 low eye, and its narrow fruit is very lately or rarely perfected. In 

 this clipped and trimmed condition it might be passed over, during 

 its flowering state, as a handsome form of Rosa arvensis, though the 

 strong assurgant shoots of the autumnal period would serve to correct 

 such an erroneous impression. But when the bush of Rosa stylosa 



