344 POPULAtt GEOGRAPHY OF PLANTS. 



The plants which characterize the next group (No. III.), 

 and are said to be common to the chalky parts of the south- 

 east of England and to the opposite coast of France, are 

 a species of Shepherd's Purse (Thlaspi perfoliatum)* A 

 kind of Flax, with blue flowers (Linum perenne). The beau- 

 tiful golden-blossomed Broorn (Genista pilosa) , which, with 

 that disregard for theories which some flowers seem deter- 

 mined to show, is also the glory of some of the lofty hills in 

 Wales. The crimson-blossomed Saintfoin (Onobrychis sativa) . 

 The elegant red-berried Bryony (Bryonia dioica), not un- 

 commonly found elsewhere. A kind of Bur-parsley (Cau- 

 calis daucoides), which from its similarity when in blossom 

 to most others of the Umbelliferous family, is difficult to 

 identify, but may be easily known in fruit by the array of 

 hooked prickles with which the ribs of the fruit are armed 

 (which constitute its resemblance to the Carrot), as well as 

 by its carrot-like, finely-cut leaves. The small Teasel, or 



* This plant, indeed, is only found at the present time in Oxford- 

 shire and Gloucestershire, where it still survives, having once spread pro- 

 bably over a much wider district. This is an example of what Professor 

 Forbes expressly states respecting the so-called chalk-growing plants, 

 that "the attachment of such plants to chalk is an accident, and not 

 an essential habit of the species; the preference is simply for calcareous 

 districts." 



