A HISTORY OF BUCKINGHAMSHIRE 



Thalictrum colllnum, a very local species reported from Herts and Beds. The pasque-flower 

 (Anemone Pulsatilla), found in all the bordering counties except Middlesex, may yet be found 

 on the Chilterns, since it occurs on them close to the Herts border. Ranunculus Lenormandi, 

 found only in Berks ; R. hirsutus or sardous, found in Middlesex, Herts, Beds and Berks, is not 

 unlikely to be found in wet places in the Colne district. Cardamine impatient, which occurs 

 near Harrow, may also be found by some of the small ditches in the Colne drainage. The 

 wall rocket (Diplotaxis tenuifolia), which grows on old walls, such as Windsor Castle, Reading 

 Abbey, St. Alban's Abbey, formerly on Northampton Castle and about London, is not very 

 likely to be found ; Thlaspi perfoliatum, a native in Oxfordshire, only occurs as a casual by 

 the railway in Bucks, Berks, and Middlesex. Viola stagnina formerly grew in the marshy 

 district of Otmoor in Oxford, and Elatine Hydropiper and hexandra are limited to Berk- 

 shire, where they grow on the sandy margins of pools, but very rarely. The small- 

 leaved lime (Tilia parvifolia) is native in Bedford Purlieus, Northants, but only occurs 

 as a planted tree in Bucks ; and the same is true of the large-leaved species T. platyphylla, 

 which is recorded close to the Bucks border from Stokenchurch woods in Oxfordshire. The 

 perennial flax (Linum perenne) is an eastern species found on limestone soils in Northants, if 

 indeed it be not extinct. The furze ( Ulex Ga/lii), which is found on one or two commons 

 in Oxford and Berks, may be found, but it is essentially a western form. The bird's-foot 

 trefoil (Trigonella purpurascens), which grows in Berks, Herts and Middlesex, may yet reward 

 the searcher on some of the gravelly commons which are suitable places for it ; and the same 

 may be said of the clovers T. scabrum, known for all the border counties except Herts, and 

 T. glomeratum, which grows in Middlesex and Herts. Another clover, T. ochroleucon, which 

 occurs in Beds and Northants, is less likely to be found as it is an eastern species ; the most 

 likely place for it would be near Olney. The blue milk vetch (Astragalus danicus), found in 

 all the border counties except Middlesex, is very likely to be found on the Chalk escarpment, 

 as it is common on the downs near Barton-in-the-Clay in Beds, and is locally plentiful in the 

 limestone of east Northants. 



Twenty-four brambles are found in one or other of the bordering counties which at 

 present are unrecorded for Bucks, but several of these will certainly be found. The marsh 

 cinquefoil (Comarum palustre or Potentilla pa/ustris) is recorded for all the bordering counties 

 except Middlesex ; it is a marshy species which drainage is eradicating from the midlands, but 

 it may possibly linger in the districts of Burnham or Langley, although hitherto unfound. The 

 burnet rose (Rosa spinosissima) and its hybrid R. invo/uta, which occur in Middlesex, Beds 

 and Northants, may possibly be found on some of the heathy commons, but Brickhill, which is 

 such a suitable place, does not appear to yield it. R. sepium or agrestis, which is found in Oxon, 

 Berks and Middlesex, is almost certain to occur, as it grows at Watlington near Prince's 

 Risborough as well as at Beckley in Oxfordshire, in both places not far from the county 

 border. The navelwort (Cotyledon Umbilicus), found in Berks, Oxon and Northants, may 

 possibly be found on some stone walls in or about villages. The large sundew (Drosera anglica) 

 formerly, it is said, grew in Beds, but is now extinct. The starwort (Callitricbe vernalis, Kuetz, 

 C. pa/ustris, L.) occurs in the fen ditches of Northants, and probably may be found in our area, 

 as it is easily overlooked for the commoner forms. The willow herb (Epilobium Lamyi), which 

 has been found in Middlesex, is almost certain to be found ; E. lanceolatum, which is found in 

 Berks, is less likely to be a Bucks plant. Erynglum campestre formerly grew by the Watling 

 Street in Northants, but is not likely to be found ; but another umbellifer, Seseli Libanatis, may 

 possibly be found on the Chilterns, since it occurs in Herts. Another plant of that county, 

 Cicuta virosa, which was formerly reported to grow in Beds and Middlesex, is scarcely likely 

 to be found, and I think the older botanists mistook some other species for it. The two water 

 hemlocks CEnanthe Lachenalii and CE. silaifolia, which occur in several of the border counties, 

 should be found, the former in calcareous bogs, the latter in marshy meadows ; indeed, the 

 latter grows in the Thames meadows at Runnymede in Surrey, although I have as yet failed to 

 find it on the Bucks side of the stream. A bedstraw, Galium anglicum, found in Herts, is 

 unlikely to be found in our county ; but the cat's-foot (Antennana dioica), which occurs on the 

 chalk hills of Beds and Oxon and on the limestone quarries of Barnack in Northants, will 

 possibly be found ; another composite, Inula vulgaris, a decreasing species in the midlands, 

 reported for many of the surrounding counties, may be detected in the lower parts of the 

 Colne district, since it occurs in Middlesex and Berks. The thistle Carduus tenuiflorw, 

 recorded for all the border counties, is more likely to be found near the Middlesex border. 

 The spotted cat's-ear (Hypochaeris maculata), which grows on the limestone quarries of Barnack 

 in Northants, is absent from our area, but the marsh sowthistle (Soncbus palustris), one of the 



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