A HISTORY OF BERKSHIRE 



Origanum (probably chalk ballast accounts for this calcareous loving species), Calamintha offici- 

 nalis, Kcehria, Erigeron acre, Jasione and Serratula, while the cutting in the stiff clay near 

 Wellington College often has on the barer portion Lycopodium inundatum, and a profuse growth 

 ofNartkecium is not unfrequent, while the moonwort fern (Botrychium), the sweet scented moun- 

 tain fern (Dryopteris montana), and the royal fern (Osmunda) are among the other filices which 



occur. 



The district about Loddon Bridge and Wokingham has a varied flora, as one might 

 expect from the different soils which occur. In rapid succession come the alluvial meadows 

 of the Thames, the gravelly soil near Early and Reading, the clayey ground about Ruscombe, 

 the sandy soil near Bearwood, and the gravels of Twyford, Wokingham and Hurst. From 

 Swallowfield to Twyford the Loddon flows through pleasant and more highly cultivated 

 country, passing in one of its reaches through the ' verdant alders,' where it is fringed with 

 the beautiful snowflake (Leucojum astivum). Loddon lilies is the local name, and it has the 

 privilege in another portion to yield one of the few endemic species which the British Flora 

 includes, for in abundance grows a pondweed which in my Berkshire Flora I called with some 

 doubt Potamogeton fluitans, or a hybrid species, but which subsequent research and culture has 

 proved to be a new species which Mr. A. Fryer has described and also beautifully figured in 

 his Monograph of the British Potamogetons under the name P. Drucei. P. alpinus also occurs 

 in the same stream, and Carex data grows in one of the marshes on its borders. Carex 

 elongata is in the vicinity and Pulicaria vulgaris, Polygonum minus, P, mite, Carex axillaris, 

 C. Pseudo-cyperus, C. vesicaria, Dipsacus pilosus, and Echinodorus ranunculoides are found. Rosa 

 systyla and R. obtusifolia are not uncommon, and on the dry gravelly soils we have Trifolium 

 subterraneum, T. striatum, Arabis perfoliata, Dianthus Armeria and Potentilla argentea, and 

 Geranium lucidum, Ft/ago apiculata and Cynoglossum are also found. The Bearwood district 

 affords Epipactis latifolia, many brambles including R. nitidus, R. incurvatus, R. car- 

 pinifolius, R. rudis, R. Lejeunei, Scirpus fluitam, Chrysanthemum Parthenium (and it may be 

 native here), Apium inundatum and many other species. The creeping jenny (Lysimachia 

 Nummularia) was found fruiting by Mr. Broome and myself near Hurst in 1900; the capsule 

 is very similar to that of L. nemorum ; it has not, that I am aware of, been found in that con- 

 dition before in Britain. Near Shottesbrooke and elsewhere in the neighbourhood (Enanthe 

 Phellandrium occurs in the ponds, and a scarce grass, Alopecurus fulvus, is locally common. 



One of the small streams which run into the Loddon is called the Ermine brook ; it rises 

 on the north-eastern side of Easthampstead Plain and drains the interesting earthwork known 

 as Caesar's Camp with its distinct double vallum now overgrown with whortleberry. From 

 the summit a fine view is to be obtained as far as the chalk hills of Oxfordshire over, 

 in the near distance, a beautifully mingled foliage of birch, chestnut, oak, beech, larch and 

 pine. 



The Broadwater drains the hilly and heathy district of Bracknell. In Easthampstead 

 Park Samolus grows, and the Swinley oaks are very fine ; under them I have found the 

 pill wort (Ranunculus Ficaria) fruiting freely, and in the neighbourhood Lepidium Smithii, 

 or as it is now called L. heterophyllum var. canescens, is found. Other parts have a rich 

 bog flora similar to that of the Sandhurst neighbourhood, but as the stream leaves the 

 Bagshot sands it passes into the flat tract of the London clay, through which it winds in a 

 very devious course through country which is so low and flat that the waters formerly inun- 

 dated the country round for a considerable distance, the stream being then more worthy of 

 its name and appearing on the map as Ruscombe Lake. The numerous ponds and the deep 

 ditches by the roadsides are evidences of the former marshy condition of the country, which 

 at one time was the habitat of Damasonium Alisma. 



Next to be briefly described is the portion of the county drained by the main stream of 

 the Thames between Reading and Maidenhead, and it has both a rich flora and lovely scenery, 

 the highest ground in the Loddon district being found in it. 



About Wargrave and Twyford we have the great dodder (Cuscuta europtea), the Loddon 

 lilies (Leucojum), the mint (Mentha longifilia), the white mullein (Verbascum Lychnitis), the 

 lettuce (Lactuca virosa), the cress (Lepidium Smithii), and the small teasel (Dipsacus pilosus). The 

 range of chalk hills by the river afford, or have afforded, the orchids Orchis militaris, Epipactis 

 violacea, Neottia, Gyrostachis autumnalis, Ophrys muscifera and Aranifera, besides atropa Bella- 

 donna, Helleborus fcetidus, Monotropa, Daphne Mezereum and Linaria repens. The arable fields 

 here afford Bromus interruptus, Alyssum calycinum, Iberis amara, etc.; and the meadows are 

 often crimson with the abundance of Pedicularis palustris. The river itself yields Lim- 

 nanthemum, Acorus and Typha angustifolia, its ditches give Hottonia and Hydrocharis, while its 



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