348 



[February, 



List of Wild Plants in flower in the neighbourhood of Hitchin, 

 Herts, between the 24th and 31st of December, 1857. By 

 Professor Bentley^ F.L.S., etc. 



Sir^ — I send you the following list of wild plants in flower^ as 

 noticed by me in the neighbourhood of Hitchin, Herts, between 

 the 24th and 31st of December, 1857. It forms a remarkable 

 illustration of the continued mildness of the season up to the 

 end of the year, for the list includes both autumnal and spring- 

 flowering plants ; the former still continuing in flower in conse- 

 quence of their not having been destroyed by any frost, etc., and 

 the latter flowering at an earlier period than usual from the 

 mildness of the season. Probably some of your readers can 

 furnish you with a more numerous list than the one I send you, 

 which merely contains those plants which I happened to notice 

 in my ordinary walks. I might also state that I saw on Christ- 

 mas-day a Glastonbury Thorn in full flower, and possessing all 

 the fragrance of our common May-flowering Thorn. I am also 

 informed that Strawberries in flower and fruit, and Raspberries 

 in fruit, were gathered in the open air about ten days before 

 Christmas. Robert Bentley. 



Kanimculns Ficaria. 

 Ranunculus repens. 

 Sisymbi'ium officinale. 

 Brassica Napus. 

 Sinapis alba. 

 Sinapis arvensis. 

 Capsella Bursa-pastoris. 

 Viola sylvatica. 

 Viola tricolor. 

 Lychnis vespertina. 

 Stellaria media. 

 Geranium robertianum. 

 TJlex europaevis, 

 Fragaria resca. 

 Rubus fruticosus. 

 Geum urbanum. 



Pimpinella Saxifi-aga. 

 Heracleum Sphondyliuni. 

 Antliriscus sylvestris. 

 Hedera Helix. 

 Cornus sanguinea. 

 Senecio vulgaris. 

 Senecio erucifolius. 

 Senecio Jacobisea. 

 Inula Conyza. 

 BeUis perennis. 

 Chrysanthemum Leucanth. 

 Mati'icaria inodora. 

 Achillea Millefolium. 

 Carduus crispus. 

 Apargia autumnalis. 



Leontodon Taraxacvun. 

 Sonchus oleraceus. 

 Sonchus asper. 

 Ci'epis virens. 

 Vinca major. 

 Borago officinalis. 

 Liuai'ia Cymbalaria. 

 Veronica agrestis. 

 Lamium purpureum. 

 Lamium album. 

 BaUota foetida. 

 Primula vulgaris. 

 Euphorbia Helioscopia. 

 Corylus AveUana. 

 Poa annua. 



VEGETABLE PHYSIOLOGY. 



Vegetable Life hi connection with Lower Forms of Animal Life. 



There is an observation in one of the papers of the ' Phytolo- 

 gist,' made by the Rev. W. A. Leigh ton, to the effect that in his 



