5 1 8 A lexander Goodman More Scientific Papers. 



feet, in all the perfection of English scenery, snug homesteads and 

 evenly divided fields, mansion and park, pasture and wooded emi- 

 nence ; each lending its charm to the landscape whether clothed in the 

 tender green of spring, or ruddy with the varied tints of autumn. 



One plant only can be mentioned as peculiar to this cluster of 

 Downs. Bromus erectus occurs profusely on the sloping turf above the 

 descent into the landslip at Luccombe. Five chalk plants, however, 

 are in the Isle of Wight restricted to the Undercliff, Hypericum 

 montanum, Ophrys aranifera, Melampyrum arvense, Astragalus 

 glycyphyllus, and the Hellebore (H. fcetidus), if so be that its 

 locality can be held beyond challenge, wild. The head-quarters of 

 this handsome plant are all close to St. Lawrence Church, and in the 

 neighbourhood of the old ruin of Woolverton. Where it is most 

 plentiful it is associated with a foreign Hypericum and cut-leaved 

 Elder. It is well known to have formerly been in request for medicinal 

 use, and the soil of the Undercliff is peculiarly favourable to the 

 propagation of adventitious plants ; witness the Red Valerian, now 

 become perfectly established ; and those botanists who consider the 

 Milk Thistle of foreign origin will see one more reason for suspecting 

 the nativity of the Hellebore, which is by no means so wide-spread as 

 the Silybum in this locality. Besides these five, Papaver somniferum, 

 Geranium rotund ifolium, Orobanche Hederae, Sambucus nigra var. 

 rotundifolia, Arum italicum, Allium oleraceum are not found beyond 

 the limits of the Undercliff. As before stated, fourteen chalk plants 

 indigenous to the main range are wanting here, and they include 

 several species which evince a preference for inland situations. 



"Lime-loving'' plants abound, none more so than Centaurea 

 nigrescens, Hypericum hirsutum, Carduus acanthoi'des, Clematis, 

 Helianthemum vulgare, Rubia peregrina, Inula Conyza, and many 

 others will be gathered throughout the district. 



But it is in the chalky corn-fields above the Undercliff and lying at 

 the back of Steephill and St. Lawrence that will be obtained the richest 

 harvest of botanical rarities. Here it is that the beautiful purple Cow- 

 wheat sometimes abounds. Adonis may be gathered, any season, with 

 Euphorbia platyphylla, and many others of the most uncommon of our 

 "cultivated" weeds. 



A list of these " Colonists " may not be out of place here. 



Adonis autumnalis. 

 Ranunculus arvensis. 

 Myosurus minimus. 

 Delphinium Consolida. 

 Papaver (all). 

 Fumaria confusa. 



officinalis. 

 Barbarea praecox. 

 Sinapis alba. 



arvensis. 



Thlaspi arvense. 

 Lepidium campestre. 

 Raphanus Raphanistrum. 

 Viola tricolor. 

 Silene inflata. 

 anglica. 

 Lychnis Githago. 



vespertina. 

 Spergula arvensis. 

 Geranium pusillum. 



