THE WILD-FLOWERS OF SELBORNE 5 



of Gilbert White. In one of his poems he thus 

 speaks of it : 



" Adown the vale, in lone, sequester'd nook, 

 Where skirting woods imbrown the dimpling brook, 

 The ruin'd convent lies ; here wont to dwell 

 The lazy canon 'midst his cloister'd cell ; 

 While Papal darkness brooded o'er the land 

 Ere Reformation made her glorious stand : 

 Still oft at eve belated shepherd-swains 

 See the cowl'd spectre skim the folded plains." 



Now, as when those lines were written, the wild ever- 

 lasting pea climbs among the brambles of the hedge- 

 row, and in the copse beyond, the small teasel still 

 grows in abundance, together with herb-paris, and 

 orpine or live-long. Several species of orchis may be 

 found in the meadow, including the green -winged 

 orchis, so called from the strongly-marked green veins 

 of the sepals, and the twayblade. The curious bird's- 

 nest orchis, with its tangled mass of short, fleshy 

 root-fibres, supposed to resemble a bird's nest, flowers 

 in June beside the pathway, while just within the 

 shadow of the trees sweet woodruff grows. Later 

 on large patches of musk mallow will be out in the 

 meadow. One plant, not mentioned by White, but 

 now to be found in great abundance in a swampy 

 piece of meadow land down the valley, is the bistort 

 (twice-twisted) or snake-weed, so called on account 

 of its large twisted roots. It is a handsome plant, 

 with its cylindrical spike of flesh-coloured flowers, and 

 of rare occurrence in Hampshire, and, had it existed 

 in its present locality in the eighteenth century, could 

 hardly have escaped White's notice. Another plant 

 not mentioned is the snowdrop, which blossoms freely 



