A HISTORY OF SUSSEX 



thus gives his observations : ' After you parted from us at Cuckfield I 

 discovered growing about there Anagallis aqiiatica surrectior, J. B. Car- 

 damine impatiens, Pilosilla siliquosa Thalii. Astragalus sylvaticus Thalii, 

 Bulbocastanum, Gramen nemorosum hirsutum and another pretty sort of 

 grasse.' These it would now be difficult to determine. To Gibbon's 

 edition of Camden's Britannia, 1695, Ray contributed the plant list. It 

 includes Peucedanum officinale, hog's fennel, growing in the marsh 

 ditches about Shoreham, but of this there is no recent record. Fceniciilum 

 vulgare occurred in Pevensey Marsh, CEnanthe crocata, Lathyrus sylvestris 

 near Poynings, Chamcedrys spuria at Cuckfield. In Dillenius's third edition 

 of Ray's Synopsis, 1724, a considerable number of Sussex plants is given. 

 Of Sussex botanists of more recent date the most eminent was William 

 Borrer, born at Henfield in 1781, whose knowledge of the flora of his 

 native county was probably unequalled. His ardour in this pursuit began 

 in early life. His brother tells us ' that he did not remember the time 

 when he was not enthusiastic in his love for flowers and in his ad- 

 miration of the vegetable world in general, so that there was no muddy 

 ditch, no old wall, no stock of a tree, no rock or dell, no pool of water, 

 or bay of the sea that did not add to his delight and open to him a 

 wide field for investigation and enjoyment.' He first noticed Isnardia 

 palustris, and Leersia oryzoides was first discovered by him in Henfield 

 Levels. As an authority on the Rubi, Rosae and Salices, the most difficult 

 genera in our flora, he ranks among the highest. He resided at Henfield 

 and continued his favourite recreation for more than half a century, 

 dying in 1862. Mr. H. Collins of Aldsworth, himself an ardent botanist, 

 accompanied him in some of his Sussex rambles, and his herbarium 

 which contains many species collected by his friend Borrer is now in 

 my possession. 



In the old Botanist's Guide, by Turner and Dilwyn, 1805, we have 

 an enumeration of the rarer Sussex plants, with localities, chiefly by 

 Borrer. Watson's New Botanical Guide, 1835-7, has many additions to 

 this. To Horsfield's History of Sussex Mr. T. H. Cooper in a supplement 

 appended good lists of the less common species, especially as regards 

 their climatic and geological distribution. In 1875 Mr. W. B. 

 Hemsley published in the Journal of Botany, as an appendix, ' An 

 Outline of the Flora of Sussex,' as showing the occurrence of our 

 plants in the various districts, and in 1883 appeared Watson's Topo- 

 graphical Botany, which enumerates the plants of east and west Sussex. 

 These are the chief works relating to the botany of Sussex in general, 

 which so far as the standard species of British plants is concerned is 

 probably now as well known as that of any county in England, while 

 what are termed the critical species have received much attention. 



As to its districts, hereafter to be described, our information may be 

 thus summarized. The West Rother has been well explored by the 

 Chichester and West Sussex Natural History Society, and having lived 

 therein for many years I have myself paid special attention to its flora, 

 and that of the Arun, the adjacent district. That of the Adur was the 



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