144 FAMILIAR WILD FLOWERS. 



own defence in his own words on the subject, which are as 

 follows : <e The Lancashire asphodill groweth in moist and 

 marish places neere unto the towne of Lancaster, in the 

 marish grounds there, as also neare unto Maudsley and 

 Martom, two villages not far from thence, where it was 

 found by a worshipfull and learned gentleman, a diligent 

 searcher of simples, and feruent louer of plants, who 

 brought the plants thereof vnto me for the increase of my 

 garden. I received some plants thereof likewise from 

 Master Thomas Edwards, apothecarie in Excester, learned 

 and skilfull in his profession, as also in the knowledge of 

 plants. He found this asphodill at the foot of a hill in 

 the west part of England, called Bagshot Hill, neere vnto 

 a village of the same name." As a plant of the high 

 moors, it is naturally more abundant in the north and 

 west of England than in the south and east, as the former 

 districts have thousands of acres of undrained, uncultivated 

 upland, that supply it with all that is congenial to its well- 

 being. 



