ESSEX AND EARLY BOTANISTS 125 



rushes and in sundry other places thereabouts" the 

 beautiful meadow saxifrage grew then, as now, abun- 

 dantly. On the sea-shore and in the salt-marshes 

 which here stretch away for many a mile he noticed 

 a number of maritime plants, such as the marsh 

 mallow, the sea lavender, and the sea spurge. 



On his herbarising expeditions inland Gerarde came 

 across many interesting species, some of them never 

 before recorded as British plants, others already 

 noticed by " that excellent, painefull and diligent Phy- 

 sition Mr. Doctor Turner of late memorie in his 

 Herbal." In many parts of Essex he found the curi- 

 ous herb-paris, with its " foure leaves set directly one 

 against another in manner of a Burgundian crosse or 

 True-love knot," in Chalkney Wood, lt neare to wakes 

 Coulne seven miles from Colchester," in the parsonage 

 orchard at Radwinter, in Bocking parke by Braintree. 

 In the latter neighbourhood he noticed the small teasel, 

 then apparently a rare plant, for he adds that he never 

 found it " in any other place except here and there 

 a plant upon the highway from Much-Dunmow to 

 London." In the same district, and perhaps on the 

 same occasion, he lighted upon a plant which he calls 

 Gentiana minor cruciata, or " Crosse woort Gentian," 

 growing " in a pasture at the west end of Little Rayne 

 on the North side of the way leading from Braintree 

 to Much-Dunmow and in the horse way by the same 

 close." This entry is of unusual interest, not simply 

 on account of the precise manner in which Gerarde 

 particularises the locality, but also because of the diffi- 

 culty in identifying his species. For what is now 

 known as the crosswort gentian is not a British plant, 

 and Gerarde's record has never been confirmed. At 

 the same time it may be taken as beyond question that 



