

THE DISAPPEARANCE OF PLANTS 91 



Suffolk, in the case of Lathyrus maritimus, the sea- 

 side everlasting pea. Old Stow, in his Chronicle, tells 

 us that "in the great dearth which happened in the 

 year 1555 the poor people in this part of the country 

 maintained themselves and their children with these 

 Pease, which," saith he, " to a miracle sprung up in 

 the autumn among the bare stones of their own accord, 

 and bore fruit sufficient for thousands of people." 

 " That these Pease did spring up miraculously for the 

 relief of the poor I believe not," adds John Ray, who 

 repeats the story; "neither did they owe their original 

 to shipwracks or Pease cast out of ships, as Camden 

 hints to be the opinion of the wiser; but, without 

 doubt, sprung up at first spontaneously." Ray speaks 

 of the plant as still (1695) growing abundantly on 

 " the stone-baich between Orford and Alburgh, called 

 the shingle, especially on the further end towards 

 Orford." It is now very rare, and has not, we believe, 

 been met with on the Suffolk coast for many years. 

 This sporadic nature doubtless explains the disappear- 

 ance of the same plant from the beach at Sandown, 

 as well as of the purple spurge and of Diotis maritima. 

 In former years this latter plant has been recorded 

 for many localities along the coast. Gerarde found 

 it in Mersea Isle, off the Essex shore; it grew at 

 Southwold in Suffolk, and near the ruins of old 

 Dunwich Church ; it has been met with near Poole 

 and Bridport in Dorsetshire, and at several spots on 

 the Cornish coast; but in all these places it is now 

 probably extinct. It is well known that in some 

 seasons certain of our orchidaceous plants are far 

 more abundant than in others. This is specially the 

 case with those species which frequent the downs, 

 such as the bee orchis, the frog orchis, and the musk 



