1.20 BOTANICAL NOTES FOR MALVERN. \^April, 



August 25lh. — On the road to Rochester we gathered Sapo- 

 naria, Mentha spicata glabra. We saw also frequently Hieracium 

 majus, and on the hill before we came to Chatham Gentianella, 

 Rubia Cynanchica in great plenty, and on Rochester Castle 

 Caryophyllus simplex flore minore {D. Caryophyllus) . 



At Northfleet we dined, and about the chalk hills met good 

 store of Gentianella very large and also Conyza flor. ferrugineo, 

 Fceniculum and Sinapi siliquis {S. nigra), and hoped to find Or- 

 chis flore glomerato, but were too late for this and other scarce 

 and curious plants. This night we finished our journey. 



On the banks of the deep way, near the gravel-pits on Black- 

 heath, we observed Hyacinthus autumnulis in seed, and the flowers 

 all gone. 



BOTANICAL NOTES FOR MALVERN. 



I have been frequently asked, what is there peculiar in the 

 Botany of the Malvern Hills ? — what are the rarest plants grow- 

 ing there, and is any species confined to this igneous axial 

 range ? To these questions I can only answer, that the vegetation 

 now appearing on the chain seems to be all derivable from else- 

 where ; there is nothing limited to the syenite, and rare plants, 

 as understood by botanists, are very sparsely scattered. The con- 

 stant exposure of the bare Malvern heights to the sun, and their 

 narrowness, precludes the establishment of even those subalpine 

 plants that in Wales grow at a less elevation ; though Sedum 

 album, which no doubt can destroy, finds an appropriate home 

 among the arid cliffs of the North Hill. Here it is undoubtedly 

 truly indigenous, though in very dwarf state, not at all spreading 

 on to the walls about the base of the hills, but entirely confined 

 to the rocks of the middle region, at about seven hundred feet of 

 altitude. The only other Sedums that the hills nourish are acre 

 and Telephiwn. If we add to these Cotyledon umbilicus, Potentilla 

 verna, P. argentea, Myosotis collina, M. versicolor, Moenchia erecta, 

 Gnaphalium sylvaticum, and Hypericum montanum (the latter very 

 uncommon), few other plants deserve to be enumerated as really 

 attached to the igneous rocks. The only species preferring sub- 

 alpine localities that can be found on the Malvern range, and 

 these but in a few spots, are the Bilberry ( Vaccinium Myrtillus) 



