THE NEW FOREST FLORA 8t 



Still other choice plants more than counterbalance 

 these omissions. On the crumbling walls of Beaulieu 

 Abbey, founded by the worst of English kings in conse- 

 quence of a terrifying dream, the wild hyssop and the 

 pink, Dianthus plumarius, L., the parent of our garden 

 species, still flourish, as when in mediaeval times the 

 Cistercian monks moved about their sacred precincts. 

 In the deeper glades of the Forest the torch-like spikes 

 of the foxglove and the wild purple columbine and the 

 exquisite bastard-balm light up the shadowy gloom. 

 The bogs are fragrant with the sweet Dutch myrtle 

 and illuminated with the golden asphodel. On the 

 road-sides the turf is brightened with the star-like 

 blossoms of the humble tormentil and " the little 

 speedwell's darling blue." Along the shallow margin 

 of Sowley Pond, and elsewhere in the Forest, the rare 

 frogs'-bit opens its white crumpled petals, and the 

 stately spearwort rears its noble head. 



But besides the large number of species which we 

 should naturally expect to find in so extensive and 

 diversified a district, the forest is also " the home of 

 some of England's greatest rarities." Some of these 

 have only been discovered within recent years, since 

 about the middle of the last century, but others were 

 known to " the fathers of English botany." 



One of the most striking and interesting of these 

 rarities is the blue cowslip, or narrow-leaved lungwort, 

 known to botanists as Pulmonaria officinalis, L. It 

 was discovered by one Mr John Goodyer, who " on 

 May 25, anno 1620, saw it flouring in a wood by 

 Holbury house in the New Forrest in Hantshire." 

 This is the earliest record of the plant, and occurs in 

 the second edition of Gerard's Herball, published in 1633. 

 f 



