1013 



Notes on the Localities of some Pembrokeshire Plants, observed in 

 May and June, 1853. By Edwin Lees, Esq., F.L.S. 



One great advantage of a periodical devoted to British Botany is, 

 to record " the \\\'mg Jlowers as they rise," to correct former observa- 

 tions, record new localities, or the extension of the bounds of plants ; 

 and so keep the tide of research up to high-water mark. I have thus 

 to mention an alteration, though not a correction, with respect to a 

 recorded observation of my own. I have stated in the ' Botanical 

 Looker-Out,' that the majestic ruins of Pembroke Castle were over- 

 grown with the silver corymbs of the fragrant Alyssum (Koniga) mari- 

 timum. This relates to the observation of sixteen years ago ; and 

 the old dame who then was custos of the Castle, and used daily, at 

 morn and eve, to furl and unfurl the banner upon the keep, assured 

 me that, for the twenty years, or more, that she had patrolled the 

 time-worn turrrets, she had noticed the Alyssum growing there. Time 

 and change will, however, mark the flight of years; for on my present 

 visit to Pembroke not a single specimen could I find anywhere about 

 the Castle ; the flag-staff, too, had been blown down in a tempest, 

 and not replaced ; the old dame no longer mounted the ruined stairs 

 of the keep ; and plant and banner were alike numbered with the 

 things that have been. I felt sorry for the loss of the plant, though, 

 perhaps, only naturalized ; but, a day or two afterwards, returning 

 from Bosheston, by the opposite side of the town, I found the Alys- 

 sum growing, in several very luxuriant tufts, upon the weather-beaten 

 town-walls ; and, as there are still extensive remains of these, it will, 

 doubtless, continue to maintain itself there. 



Diplotaxis tenuifolia used to be rather abundant at Tenby, gene- 

 rally showing itself, as an old retainer, about domestic spots, even on 

 the window-ledges of the ancient habitations. It is now almost gone, 

 for the thick stone dwellings of the original Flemish settlers are nearly 

 all gone too ; and the present race of tall, lean, and hungry-looking 

 white houses, overlooking the dejected walls of olden times, offer the 

 plant no place of shelter suited to its recollections. I could now only 

 find it on three, out of, perhaps, a score, of old places, still remaining 

 relics of the past. Here it still tenaciously clung, in front of the thick 

 casements, and will do so till the remorseless hand of innovation 

 decrees their ruin. 



Nature generally supplies some compensation for loss ; and so, in 

 place of the " time-honoured " Diplotaxis, a modern interloper has 

 VOL. IV. 6 o 



