394 ON THE BOTANY OF [April, 



as it is on less elevated cultivated places. Many of these plants 

 differ much in habit and external appearance from the Foxglove^ 

 the Mullein, the Figwort, and the common Toadflax, but they 

 all agree in the shape and nature of their seed-vessels, and in the 

 multitude and minuteness of their seeds. The fruit, or seed- 

 vessel, is ovate (egg-shaped), having two cells and two small holes 

 at the apex, which serve for the emission of the seeds. Another 

 conspicuous plant of the Clent Hills is the Dwarf Gorse {Ulea^ 

 nana). The common Gorse of the south of England is not the 

 plant which grows on these hills, although the more common 

 form of the Gorse [Ulex europceus) is not altogether absent in 

 these parts. The plant of the Clent Hills is of a humbler and 

 more compact growth, and always flowers late in summer, or in 

 the autumn. The common Gorse flowers in spring. Wandsworth 

 or Clapham Common is now gay with the flowers of the Dwarf 

 Gorse : in October and November it is in perfection. The hedges 

 about the fields on these hills abound with the Wild Rose, of 

 which there are several species, the common Dog Rose {Rosa 

 canina), the Woolly Rose {R. villosa), etc. These, of course, 

 were all in fruit when we Avere at Clent. The Crab-tree [Pyrus 

 Mains) is also plentiful, and bears large crops of apples, many 

 of these being but little inferior to the cultivated sorts in beauty, 

 but their flavour was very ungrateful. One of the handsomest 

 plants of these uplands is the Musk Mallow {Malva moschata). 

 The flowers of this species are pink, rarely white, nearly as large 

 and handsome as the flowers of the famed domestic Geranium, 

 the inmate of our greenhouses and parlours. This is the most 

 common plant of the Order in these parts ; the other two common 

 sorts, the Wild and the Round-leaved Mallows [M. sylvestris and 

 M. rotundifolia) , are less abundant about Clent than the Musk 

 Mallow, which is the least common in the south of England. 

 The plants of the Mallow Family are furnished with a very 

 tenacious fibrous bark, which would probably be available in 

 constituting a material for the fabrication of paper. The fruit 

 consists of a series of one-seeded carpels (small fruits), arranged 

 circularly around a central axis. This is vulgarly called, by 

 children and others, cheese, and the plant is called the cheese- 

 plant. It resembles cheese only in its form ; it need scarcely be 

 stated that it has not a trace of cheesy flavour. Geraniums, 

 which abound on limestone soils, are not common here. The 



