84 THE WILD-FLOWERS OF SELBORNE 



was repeatedly searched for in vain. Another rare 

 Hampshire plant is the treacle mustard, sometimes 

 from its general habit of growth called wallflower 

 mustard. It is not infrequently met with as a corn- 

 field weed in parts of East Anglia, but in Hants it 

 had merely been noticed in one or two localities, and 

 then only single specimens were found. Strange to 

 say, it appeared a few seasons ago in abundance in 

 an old garden associated with memories of Izaak 

 Walton in the Meon Valley. In some gardens in the 

 South of England, especially in the Isle of Wight, the 

 sweet-scented coltsfoot, or, as it is sometimes called 

 from its time of flowering, the winter heliotrope, has 

 firmly established itself. It is often in blossom as 

 early as January, and with its fragrant flowers is not 

 an unwelcomed intruder, except when it strays beyond 

 the limits of the shrubbery. " In the garden at Swain- 

 ston," consecrated by Tennyson's lines beginning 



" Nightingales warbled without, 

 Within was weeping for thee," 



the plant is remarkably abundant. 



John Ray noted the broad-leaved spurge as "com- 

 ing up spontaneously here in my own orchard at 

 Black Notley," and a specimen of this uncommon 

 plant, gathered by his friend Dr. Dale in " Ray's 

 orchard," is preserved in Buddie's Herbarium at the 

 South Kensington Museum. A few years ago the 

 writer visited Ray's house " on Dewlands," now, alas ! 

 burnt to the ground, and searched in vain for the 

 broad-leaved spurge. The place has been much 

 altered since the great naturalist died there in 1705, 

 and the orchard has been mostly stubbed up. An 

 ancient pear-tree, however, was standing, which 



