BOTANY 



Park. In its way it crosses Combe Hill at 840 feet elevation, the highest point in the 

 county. 



From Combe Hill it goes toward the North East past Miswell to Tring ; thence in a 

 northerly direction to near Bulborne on Upper Icknield Way ; thence nearly along the 

 London and North- Western Railway to Seabrook, with the Ouzel district on the east ; 

 thence by Cheddington across the hill at Mentmore to Aston Abbots, and thence northwards 

 to Stewkley North End ; it then touches the Ouse district, and forms its northern boundary 

 by Whitchurch, Oving, Quainton, Botolph Claydon, to Poundon. 



The portion drained by the Ray is included in a line drawn from Poundon to Botolph 

 Claydon, Quainton, Waddesdon station, and along the Wootton tramway to Muswell Hill, 

 and thence by the Oxfordshire county boundary to Poundon. 



The country contained within the Thame drainage is well diversified, the highest point 

 in the county being within its area, while the Thame near Tythrop is only 230 feet above 

 the sea. The prospect from Beacon Hill near Tring, and from Combe Hill near Wendover 

 is of a very noble and beautiful kind, the reservoirs of Wilstone and Tring giving additional 

 beauty, as water is usually lacking in midland scenery, while the views obtained from the top of 

 Brill or Muswell Hills have a pleasing feature in allowing the observer to see all parts of a 

 distant horizon and not merely a segment of a circle. The vegetation of the area is also a 

 varied and interesting one. In addition to the plants mentioned as growing on the Chilterns in 

 the Ouzel district and the chief absentee is Carum Bulbocastanum we have recorded for the 

 beautiful slopes of the chalk escarpment the musk orchis (Herminium Monorchis), the military 

 orchid (Orchis militaris), a great rarity now limited to three or four of the chalk counties of 

 the Upper Thames, the fly orchis (Ophrys muscifera), the winter green (Pyrola minor), the 

 henbane (Hyoscyamus niger), the frog orchis (Habenaria viridis), the tower cress (Arabis hirsuta), 

 the grass Bromus interruptus, the vetch Vida sylvatica, with its elegantly pencilled petals, the 

 meadow sage (Salvia pratensis), the bedstraws Galium sylvestre (limited to this district) and 

 G. erectum, the gentian (G. germanica), the chalk milkwort (Polygala ca/carea), the eyebright 

 (Euphrasia curia), the umbellifer Pimpinella major. The small flowered buttercup (Ranunculus 

 parviflorui), occurs on gravelly ground near Bledlow, and in clayey soil the local sedge Carex 

 axillaris occurs in one locality, the mint Mentha longifolia grows near Ellesborough and 

 near Kimble the alkanet (Anchusa sempervirens) is naturalized. In the Dinton meadows the 

 snake's-head (Fritillara meleagris) is plentiful, and white-flowered forms are not unfrequent. 

 On the churchyard wall of Dinton Erinus alpinus is naturalized. At Stewkley South End 

 there is a small marsh near a stream in which the bedstraw Galium uliginosum, and the dwarf 

 valerian (Faleriana dioica) grow, and a field not far distant is the only known locality for the 

 water avens (Geum rivale) in the north of the county, and only one is known for the south, 

 namely that of the Chalvey meadows near Eton, and it is unknown for Northamptonshire 

 although so frequent in many parts of Britain. In the Thame meadows near the town of 

 that name the rush 'Juncm compressus grows sparingly. At Brill, 566 feet in altitude, the 

 henbane (Hyoscyamus niger) is rather common, and the water buttercup (Ranunculus Drouetif) 

 grows. 



On the walls at Marsh Gibbon the stonecrop (Sedum dasyphyllum) is found ; it is very 

 frequent on the Coralline Oolite in Berkshire, where it may be native, but it is one of the 

 rarest of the plants of Bucks. Sison segetum and Caucalis nodosa are found by the roadside 

 near Ludgershall. At Boarstall, by the old moat, there is a considerable growth of the dock 

 (Rumex maritimus), while near the decoy the cut-leaved form of the elder (Sambucus nigra var. 

 laciniata), the jonquil (Narcissus biftorus) and the large daffodil (Narcissus major) are doubtless 

 relics of cultivation. 



The cultivated fields in the vicinity have the hawksbeard (Crepis biennis), as well as 

 C. taraxacifolia, and the bushy hedgerows of the district contain fine examples of the roses 

 Rosa glauca and R. systyla, as well as the hawthorn (Cratagus oxyacanthoides) and a probable 

 hybrid of it with C. Oxyacantha. 



There are not many introduced species in this district, but one of the ' duck farms ' near 

 Brill has a plentiful growth of the cress Lepidium Draba, which when once introduced is 

 difficult to eradicate, and on the London and North- Western Railway the white mignonette 

 (Reseda alba) grew near Marsh Gibbon station. 



4. THE THAMES DISTRICT 



This has its counterpart to some extent in the district ' No. 7. The Thames or Lower 

 Thames' of my Flora of Oxfordshire, but it more closely resembles district 'No. 5. The 



47 



