186«2.] KENTISH BOTANY. 173 



p. 7C0, and which Bauhin calls a thistle which grows in cornfields 

 and is believed by many botanists to be the same as C arvensis, 

 but if it is not a different species, which is probable, it is at least 

 a very remarkable variety." — Ray, 3rc? ed., 194, No. 6. 



The above variety was seen in a spot which once was part of 

 Battersea fields, but where now there is a large crop of small 

 brick houses, but neither corn nor cabbage. That the variety 

 collected there, and now horto in meo, is a genuine descendant of 

 the thistle or thistles observed by Dillenius, and described in his 

 edition of Ray, I will not assert ; it grew near, if not in the same 

 anciently known locality so late as 1857. 



N.B. Any information about the species contained in the above 

 lists, and any corrections, Avill be gratefully received by the Pub- 

 lisher, 45, Frith Street, Soho, London, or by the Editor, at 28, 

 Upper Manor Street, Chelsea. 



KENTISH BOTANY. 



Before noon on the 15th of August (see 'Phytologist,^ p. 140) 

 we started by train from Appledore, and went again to Ashford, 

 paying a short visit to Willesborough Leas, Brabourne Leas, etc. 

 What was achieved in these reno\\ned localities, will be partly 

 seen in the following epitome of our proceedings; and the residue 

 will be forthcoming at a more convenient season. 



In presenting the benevolent readers with an abstract of our 

 discoveries, and in laying before them our reflections on the past 

 and present condition of this district, once memorable in history, 

 our intention is not to vilify our own labours, nor to grumble 

 about the apparent insignificance of the results. 



The rarer plants seen and localized, it may be granted, are not 

 many ; but we will not admit, that the old saying of " much cry 

 and little wool " is justly applicable to our case. We saw all the 

 plants in Mr. E. Cowell's Kentish Flora with one or two excep- 

 tions; though we did not see all the plants anciently seen about 

 Bomney by Ray and other botanists in the seventeenth century. 



In our four.days' botanizing we got a very fair idea of the vege- 

 tation of Romney Marsh ; and in addition to the species already 

 noted, found Scirpus maritimus and Arundo Phragmites almost 

 everywhere, and the former more abundant than the latter. Apium 



