BOTANY 



spurge laurel [Daphne Laureola), the purple willow [Salix purpurea), the frog-bit [Hydrocharts 

 Morsus-rana), the lesser water plantain {Echlnodorus ranunculoidei), the snowdrop [Galanthm 

 nivalis), the ramsons [Allium urunum), the marsh orchis {Orchis latifolia), the fragrant orchis 

 [Hahenaria conopsea or H. Gymnadenia), the bird's-nest orchis {Neottia Nidus-avis), the wood 

 rush [Juncoides or Luzula multiflorum), the wood club-rush {Scirpus sylvaticus), the sedges 

 (Carex paniculata, C. pallescens, and possibly C. strigosa), the wood millet grass [Milium effiisum), 

 the wood small reed [Calamagrostis epigeios), the heath hair grass [Deschampsia flexuosa), the 

 melic grass [Melica uniflora), also Poa compressa, Agropyron caninum, the large horsetail 

 [Equisetum maximum), the ferns Dryopteris (or Lastrea) dilatata, D. spinulosa, and many other 

 species. 



Geddington Chase, near which is one of the crosses erected to the memory of Queen 

 Eleanor, is on the Oxford clay, and has no very special plants recorded except the woolly- 

 headed thistle [Cnicus eriophorus), the sweet chestnut [Castanea sativa), the daffodil [Narcissus 

 Pseudo-narcissus), the drooping star of Bethlehem [Ornithogalum nutans), and the wood hound's- 

 tongue [Cynoglossum montanum). 



Sywell or Seywell Wood and Gibb Wood (425 feet above sea-level), Pytchley and 

 Orlingbury afford the wild everlasting pea [Lathyrus sylvestris), the saw-wort [Serratula 

 tinctoria), the giant throat-wort [Campanula latifolia), the wood pimpernel [Lysimachia nemorum), 

 the pyramidal orchis [0. pyramidalis), the cotton-grass [Eriophorum angustifolium, and the 

 adder's-tongue fern [Ophioglossum vulgatum). 



Some coppices on the borders of Buckinghamshire near Easton, Grendon and Bozeat 

 yield the columbine [Aquilegia vulgaris), the zigzag clover [Trifolium medium), the lady's 

 mantle [Alchemilla vulgaris), the brambles [Rubus dasycarpus, R. Radula and R. echinatus), the 

 orpine [Sedum Telephium), the great burnet saxifrage [Pimpinella major), the shepherd's rod 

 [Dipsacus pilosus), the heath groundsel [Senecio sylvaticus), the saw-wort [Serratula tinctoria), the 

 fellwort [Gentiana Amarella), the herb Paris [Paris quadrifolia), and the small reed grass 

 [Calamagrostis epigeios). 



There are considerable woodlands in the neighbourhood of Brigstock, where the stinking 

 hellebore [Hellehorus fcetidus), the golden rod [Solidago Virgaurea), the wall lettuce [Lactuca 

 muralis), the hound's-tongue [Cynoglossum officinale), the tooth wort [Lathrea Squamaria), and 

 the fly honeysuckle [Lonicera Xylosteum) have been gathered. 



There is very little heathland left in the district, but a few furze commons now 

 enclosed retain traces of their former vegetation. Billing Lings, as its name denotes, 

 formerly had ling [Calluna) and heather [Erica cinerea), and traces are possibly left. The 

 buck's-horn plantain [Plantago Coronopus) existed till the * thirties,' and may perhaps not be 

 wholly extirpated. This neighbourhood with that of Overstone, which are on the North- 

 ampton sands, yield the field chickweed [Cerastium arvense), the rose-bay willow herb 

 [Epilobium angustifolium), the tuberous moschatel [Adoxa Moschatellina), the heath bedstraw 

 [Galium hercynicum), the small valerian [F. dioica), the hawkweed [Hieracium umbellatum), the 

 viper's bugloss [Echium vulgare), the birch [Betula alba), the white-flowered helleborine 

 [Cephalanthera pollens), the heath grass [Aira pnecox), and the lady fern [Athyrium Filix- 

 faemina), but the marsh fern [Dryopteris Thelypteris) is now extinct. 



Kettering Links and some heathy ground near Thorpe Malsor are now greatly diminished 

 in extent and altered in character to what they were in the time when Morton wrote his 

 Natural History, when the upright pearlwort [Cerastium quaternellum), the heath cudweed 

 [Gnaphalium sylvaticum), the field gentian [Gentiana campestris) if that was really the plant 

 meant, the garlic [Allium vineale), the heath rush [jfuncus squarrosus), and the perfoliate yellow- 

 wort [Blackstonia perfoliata) occurred there. Some of them may still linger with the St. 

 John's worts [Hypericum pulchrum and H. humifusum) and the blue fleabane [Erigeron acre). 

 The capon's tail-grass [Festuca Myurus) has also been recorded from the vicinity. 



The adventitious flora of the district is rather large, as many foreign and a few native 

 species are found about the sewage works and some few near the corn mills, e.g. Sisymbrium 

 Sophia, Lepidium Draba, Lythrum acutangulum, Ferbascum virgatum, Melilotus alba, Couringia 

 orientalis, Tragopogon porrifolius, Mariana lactea. Datura Stramonium, Chenopodium Fulvaria, 

 C. hybridum, Anthoxanthum Puelii, Santia [Polypogon) monspeliensis, Panicularia [Glyceria) distans, 

 Phalaris canariensis, Panicum miliaceum, Setaria viridis, S. glauca and Lepidium sativum. In 

 addition the Cheddar pink [Dianthus ca^sius or gratianopolitanus) is naturalized on a wall near 

 Rush Mills, and the evergreen alkanet [Anchusa sempervirens), the dame's violet [Hesperis 

 matronalis), the periwinkle [Finca minor), the snowdrop [Galanthus nivalis), the tuberous 

 comfrey [Symphytum tuberosum), the star of Bethlehem [Ornithogalum umbellatum), the fly 



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