1862.] PLANTS OP ENFIELD CHASE. 303 



under the special protection of man as a reward for tlieir real or 

 imagined virtues. Nobody, however, has branded the Tansy, 

 the humble seasoning of the homely puddings of our ancestors, 

 with the stigma of alienism. Why should anybody suspect the 

 Periwinkle, which has been cultivated for the beauty of its 

 flowers and foliage, to be originally an alien, though it be in 

 many places a thousand times more common than the Tansy is ? 

 We saw but one or two plants of Tansy in a hedge near a cot- 

 tage. We trod over miles of Periwinkle in the coppices about 

 Enfield, and in the woods about Southgate. 



About Guildford we only found Tansy near the river. We 

 found Periwinkle everywhere in the woods from Guildford to 

 Leatherhead. There can be no cavil against entering Inula He- 

 lenium as a true native, but there is a great want of judgment 

 and consistency in excluding Vinca tninor and Danewort from 

 the same class. 



At Southgate, Senebiera pinnatifida, or Coronopus didymus, 

 is as well established as it is about Parson's Green, Kew Green, 

 and Chelsea. It appears also well established in the lane be- 

 tween Southgate and Colney Hatch. That it has spread from 

 Southgate to this other station in the lane there is no doubt, 

 but it is plentiful in both localities. If this plant once get a good 

 footing, it is not easily eradicated. 



This is a very brief list of plants, but it is as long as we can 

 conscientiously make it. There are rumours of other rare plants 

 in this neighbourhood, possibly the remains of cultivation, pos- 

 sibly outcasts ; n^importe, i. e. it is of no very great importance 

 how they got possession of the soil. " Possession is nine points 

 of the law,^^ or nine-tenths of the battle. What are these plants ? 

 Are they likely to grow there provided the locality remains un- 

 disturbed ? What are they good for ? Are they ornamental or 

 useful plants ? Their history, relationships, characters, etc., are 

 sufficiently interesting to deserve to be looked for and looked at. 



A report has been circulated about Spiranthes autumnalis, viz. 

 that it has been detected in a part of the forest recently cleared. 

 How many hundreds or thousands of years were these plants in 

 existence, appearing only when the forest was cleared, and going 

 to sleep while they were sheltered and densely covered by the 

 leafy trees ? Let geologists and physiologists answer these in- 

 teresting questions ; our functions are rather historical than phi- 



