A HISTORY OF BUCKINGHAMSHIRE 



(Prunus spinosa) in the hedgerows. The flora of the road borders on the 

 clay will be found to consist principally of the grasses Dactylis glomerata, 

 Poa trivia/is, P. pratensis, Lolium perenne and Festuca pratensis, and occa- 

 sionally F. arundinacea, and the great plantain (Plantago major] and 

 the strawberry-headed clover (Trifolium fragiferum) are common. In the 

 ditches there will be the teasel (Dipsacus sy/vestns), the ragwort (Senecio 

 erucifolius], the fleabane (Pulicaria dysenterica] and the mint (Mentba 

 aquatica), and the thistles will be usually Cnicus lanceolatus and C. palustris, 

 whereas on the oolite the grasses more commonly found will be Poa 

 pratensis, often as the var. subc&rulea, Bromus erecfus, Avena pubescens, 

 Cynosurus cristatus, Festuca ovina and F. rubra, and the plantain will be 

 more frequently Plantago media. The pastures will offer abundance of cow- 

 slips (Primula veris), and when there is a rich subsoil there will often be 

 immense quantities of the green-veined orchid (Orchis morio). If there be 

 little subsoil we shall see abundance of the thyme (Tbymus Cbamcedrys], or 

 the rock-rose (Heliantbemum Chamcecistus], The thistles will be Carduus 

 nutans or even possibly Cnicus eriopborus and frequently C. acaulis. Even 

 the cornfield weeds are different, for on the calcareous soil we shall find 

 the shepherd's weather-glass (Specularia bybrida], Linaria Elatina and L. 

 spuria, the corn gromwell (Litbospermum arvense] and occasionally the 

 rarer form of the pale poppy (Papaver Lecoqii) . 



But as I have said, this band of oolite stretching across the northern 

 part of the county is not a continuous zone. For considerable distances it 

 is covered with drift deposits, and when these consist of gravels we shall 

 have plants fond of warm and porous soils, while if the surface deposit 

 consist of Boulder Clay we shall have the same pelophilous species which 

 abound on the Oxford or Kimeridge Clays. An example may be worth 

 quoting : When I began systematically to work the county about six 

 years ago I found there was no certain record of the woolly-headed 

 thistle (Cnicus eriopborus] for the county. Now I well remembered as a 

 boy seeing it in a portion of Whittlebury Forest, the haunt of the 

 chequered skipper, in Northamptonshire, and just at its south-western 

 extremity, where there is a turnpike road leading from Whittlebury to 

 Wicken. This road is within a few yards of the county border, so that 

 one might almost have been justified in assuming that in this place the 

 thistle would spread into Bucks. But in order to see if this were the 

 case I went over and found this handsome thistle growing with the 

 rock rose in the spot I remembered, and also extending along the eastern 

 side of the road, but I also saw what the map did not tell me, that there 

 was a sudden change in the soil on the south-western side of the road, 

 for while on the Northamptonshire side the oolite was at the surface, on 

 the Buckinghamshire side a drift deposit obscured the limestone, and not 

 a single specimen of the thistle or rock rose could I see within the 

 Buckinghamshire boundary, although I made a close search, nor did I see 

 it in my walk of seven or eight miles towards Buckingham, but shortly 

 before reaching Westbury I had the pleasure of gathering it in a spot 

 where the oolite once again appeared. I have since found it in great 



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