254 The New Forest : its History and its Scenery. 



umhilicus, Pinguicula Lusitanica, Briza minor, and Agrostis 

 setacea. The "British" and " EngUsh " types are, of course, 

 plentifully represented.* 



Looking, too, at the trees and shrubs which are indigenous, 

 we shall find them also eminently characteristic. In spite of 

 what Caesar says, the beech is certainly a native, pushing out 

 in places even the oak. The holly, too, grows everywhere in 

 massy clumps. In the spring, the wild crab {Pyrus Mains) 

 crimsons the thickets of Brockenhurst, in the autumn the 

 maple. The butcher's broom stands at the foot of each beech, 

 and the ivy twines its great coil round each oak, and the 

 mistletoe finds its home on the white poplar. 



After all, the trees, and not the flowers, give its character to 

 the New Forest. In the spring, all its woods are dappled with 

 lights and shades, with the amber of the oak and the delicate soft- 

 gleaming green of the birch and beech. In the autumn, the 

 spindle-tree {Euonymus Europceus) in the Wootton copses ia 

 hung with its rosy gems ; and the trenches of Castle Malwood 

 are strewed with the silver leaves of the white-beam. 



To return, however, to the plants, let us notice how some 

 particular families seem especially to like the light gravelly soil 

 of the Forest district. Take, for instance, the St. John's-worts, 

 of which we have no less than six, if not more varieties. The 

 common perforated {Hypericum perforatum) shines on every 

 dry heath, and the square-stalked {quadrangulum) in all the 

 damp boggy places. The tutsan {Androsamum) is so common 

 round Wootton that it is known to all the children as "touchen 



* In Appendix II. I have given a list of all the characteristic plants of 

 the New Forest to assist the collector; and, I trust, comprehensive enough 

 l()r the botanist tp make generalizations. 



254 



