BOTANY 



which once yielded ferns in plenty are now despoiled, and the primroses 

 are becoming in turn the sufferers. 



CLUB MOSSES (Lycopodium) 



These species are well nigh extinct, but drainage and cultivation 

 rather than the wilful marauder are the agents which have exerted male- 

 volent influence on this genus. L. inundatum still lingers in one or two 

 heaths in the Thames district, and L. Selago formerly grew and may still 

 occur there, and L,. clavatum may probably be found in some of the 

 bracken-covered areas of the Chilterns or Brickhill. 



PILLWORT (Marsiliacece) 



Pilularia, the only member of this order, has been found in the 

 heathy bogs of the Thames or Colne district, but it is very easily over- 

 looked from its minute size and grass-like appearance, and it often grows 

 submerged, or partially submerged, on the margins of peaty ponds. 



THE HORSETAILS (Equisetum) 



The wood horsetail (. syhaticum) is our rarest species, and it appears 

 to be absent from the Brickhill woods, which look so suitable a home for 

 it ; but it is to be found in the Burnham country, although very locally. 



E. maximum is locally abundant, especially in the Ouzel and Ouse 

 districts, choosing a place where a pervious stratum rests upon a bed of 

 clay, so that permanent moisture can be enjoyed, and then if it is shaded 

 by trees the plant grows in great luxuriance and is of real beauty. 

 E. limosum, and as the variety fluviatile, E. palustre and E. arvense are all 

 common except in the chalk uplands. 



THE CHAR ADS (Cbaracece) 



These water plants having been mentioned under the various 

 districts, a mere allusion to them will suffice. They are often of very 

 uncertain appearance, being most abundant for a season and then disap- 

 pearing for many years. The largest and most beautiful of the order, 

 Nitella trans/ucens, is however almost always to be seen in the ponds at 

 Burnham Beeches ; N. flexilis has been found at Brickhill and in Wilton 

 Park, N. opaca at Eton, etc. Tolypella glomerata occurred near Castle- 

 thorpe in the Ouse, and at Brickhill in the Ouzel district. Chara 

 hispida occurs at Brickhill, and C.fragilis var. Hedivigii in the Thames. 



Further search will be certainly rewarded by the discovery of three 

 or four more species. 



THE BRAMBLES (Rubi) 



Among the British counties Buckinghamshire ranks above the 

 average in the number of its bramble forms, as in the sandy heaths and 

 gravelly commons and woods they meet with a soil and conditions which 

 are suitable for this very variable genus. The Greensand at Brickhill is 

 especially rich in forms, and it is the only British home for Rubus hirtus 

 i 57 8 



