304 FLORA OP ESSEX. [^Octobev, 



losopliical. We aspire not to things above our reach, nor meddle 

 with what is too high for us, nor venture beyond our depth. 

 Non omnia possumus omnes — ' One man should not know every- 

 thing.' 



FLOEA OF ESSEX. 



Additional Localities for Essex Plants, and some Observations 



thereon. 



Mentha viridis. — More than one variety of this variable Mint 

 grow plentifully in an old chalk quarry not above a mile from 

 Grays, on the west side of the town. The pit is both large and 

 deep, and the sides are densely covered with a thick growth of 

 shrubs; among these the Spearmint grew luxuriantly in 1857. 



Cardamine amara was seen on the wet banks of the Colne, 

 above Colchester, in 1835, and close by the river. Lamiumma- 

 culatum was collected at the same time, in the same locality. 



Lathyrus hirsutus. — The late Mr. Salmon used to collect this 

 species in some parts of Essex, especially among the bushes about 

 Hadleigh Castle. Specimens procured by him are in the her- 

 barium of the Linnean Society. 



Mr. Salmon also found Vicia bithynica in the same locality, 

 or not far from it. 



Corydalis lutea grew on a wall at West Ham in 1832. 



Erysimum orientate. — In Buddie's Herbarium there is a spe- 

 cimen of this anciently introduced Crucifer. The note, an an- 

 cient one, states that it was from Essex. 



Lepidium Draba, which is plentiful about Barking, as it is in 

 many parts of the valley of the Thames, is stated in the ' Flora 

 of Essex' to be " an escape," or " supposed to be an escape from 

 cultivation." Where was it supposed to have been cultivated, 

 and for what purpose ? Are there any traditionary accounts of 

 botanical gardens about Rochford and Fambridge ? 



Frankenia Icevis. — Is there any living authority for the present 

 existence of this plant in Essex ? It has disappeared on the 

 coasts of Suffolk and Norfolk (?). 



Saponaria officinalis abounded in 1835 in a hanky, grassy 

 waste between some cultivated lands, or ridges, or fields, between 



