94 THE WILD-FLOWERS OF SELBORNE 



And the rare plants are gone. The fen orchis, Liparis 

 Loeselii, the glory of the fen flora, formerly to be 

 found in Burwell and Bottisham fens, and elsewhere 

 in similar situations in the Eastern counties, is now 

 probably extinct ; and the same must be said of the 

 well-known rarities of the district, Senecio paludosus, 

 S. palustris, and Sonchus palustris, or the marsh 

 sow-thistle. It has been calculated that no less 

 than fifty species have been lost to the flora of 

 Cambridgeshire, and most of them in consequence 

 of the draining of the fens. The same process has 

 naturally produced similar results elsewhere. In the 

 year 1667 John Goodyer, a famous botanist, discov- 

 ered the marsh Isnardia near the great pond on Peters- 

 field Heath, in Hampshire. This plant is one of our 

 greatest rarities, being only known to exist in one or 

 two localities in Great Britain. Up to the middle of 

 the last century it maintained its position on Peters- 

 field Heath, where, in the summer of 1848, it was seen 

 in considerable plenty by Dr. Bromfield, the author of 

 the Flora Vectensis. Since then the marshy spots 

 where it flourished have been drained, and this inter- 

 esting plant has now entirely disappeared from the 

 historic locality where, in the middle of the seven- 

 teenth century, it was first discovered to be a British 

 plant. 



Other changes, too, to the detriment ot our flora 

 have passed over the face of the country. Not only 

 have bogs been drained, but large tracts of heath 

 and downland have come under the plough, and 

 what was formerly open country is now enclosed and 

 cultivated. The roadside wastes, where in the autumn 

 flocks of goldfinches might be seen feeding on the 

 thistle-seeds, have in many districts been taken in, 



