120 THE MUSIC OF WILD FLOWERS 



where the herbage had caught fire from the sparks of 

 the engine. Hardly a flower was to be seen here and 

 there a few scarlet poppies, or some yellow ragwort, or 

 a plant or two of the common milfoil or the purple knap- 

 weed. The grass and the tenderer species were all 

 scorched up, and the slopes of the cuttings and em- 

 bankments were brown and bare. Only on changing 

 trains at Halesworth for the little Southwold line did I 

 notice on a steep embankment a thriving cluster of the 

 wild fennel, which I had never before associated with 

 the railway flora. 



Now and again rare and choice wild flowers may be 

 encountered on the railroad. When I was in Switzer- 

 land some seasons ago I noticed that the railway em- 

 bankment between Territet and Montreux, on the shore 

 of the Lake of Geneva, was covered with the attractive 

 deep blue flowers of the grape hyacinth. Here at home 

 a beautiful hybrid between the two wild species of 

 Linaria L. repens, Mill., and L. vulgaris, Mill. 

 makes a fine show on a steep embankment not many 

 miles from Winchester. Nearer to the city, at the 

 summit of a deep chalk cutting, some lusty plants of the 

 purple salsify have blossomed the last two or three 

 summers. On the same London and South Western 

 line, but nearer Eastleigh Station, some plants of the 

 rare and very beautiful Epipactus palustris, Sw., or 

 marsh helleborine, have taken a fancy to the railway. 

 Escaping from a marshy swamp that adjoins the line, a 

 dozen or more plants have invaded the permanent way. 

 There they were to be seen in August last year actually 

 blooming between the iron rails. They were naturally 

 somewhat stunted individuals, for the E. palustris, Sw., 

 as its name indicates, is a frequenter of swampy places, 



