1857.] BOTANICAL SKETCHES. 203 



BOTANICAL SKETCHES. 



Mr. Editor^ — I herewith send the first of a series of Botanical 

 Sketches^ which I will continue if they are liked by your 

 readers. I am, etc., — I. A. 



YARMOUTH, ISLE OF WIGHT. 



Yarmouth is situated on the eastern side of the Yar, and is built 

 at the extremity of a narrow peninsula or tongue of land, which 

 is bounded by the Solent on the north, the Yar on the west, and 

 a small brook on the south. The formation of all the northern 

 shore and side of the island from Yarmouth, easterly, is the ter- 

 tiary. To the west of the Yar, about and beyond Sconce Point, 

 towards the Needles, there is a repetition of the famous Under- 

 clifi", orJy in miniatm'e. The sea soaks the foundation, and the 

 shelving declivitous soil slides down, leaving the ground much 

 broken. Terraces, though only of small dimensions, are formed 

 through the subsidence of the bluish marl on which the upper 

 stratum rests. At Sconce Point a fortress and barracks for the 

 garrison are now erecting, and it is proposed to build another 

 fort about a mile further west ; these two batteries, with the op- 

 posite one of Hurst Castle, will completely protect the entrance 

 to the Solent, which here is not above a mile or two in width. 



The botany of Yarmouth and its neighbourhood is more than 

 usually interesting. The following are a few vegetable rarities, 

 Spartina stricia grows on both sides of the Yar, wherever there 

 is mud ; it is the only grass of that dismal swamp, and it grows 

 luxuriantly, much larger than in North Kent. On the sand- 

 bank between the sea and the west side of the ferry, there grow 

 Erynyium maritimum (Sea Holly), common Fennel {Foeniculum 

 officinale), Psamma arenaria (Marram, or Sea Reed), a valuable 

 grass for binding the sand, AsiJaragm ^officinalis, Cakile maritima 

 (Sea Rocket), Altftcea officinalis (Marsh Mallow), and Convolvulus 

 Soldanella (Sea Bindweed) ; and on the Downs about Sconce 

 Point, (Enanthe Lachenalii, Ilyoscyamus officinalis (Henbane), 

 Erijthrcea pulchella, and a pretty variety of Gentiana Amarella, 

 with four segments to the calyx and four lobes to the corolla. 

 The typical form, with five segments in the calyx and corolla, 

 appears to be very rare, if not entirely absent, in this locality. 



