SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



183 



THE SELBORNE SOCIETY FIELD CLUB. 



'HPTIE district around Pinner affords many oppor- 

 tunities for an interesting field-club ramble, 

 such as is now the delight of the numerous 

 rambling clubs which have, within recent years, 

 started into existence. In connection with the 

 Selborne Society a ramble had been arranged for 

 June 29th, which was to lead a party of wanderers 

 from Pinner (Metropolitan Station) by way of 

 Ruislip to Northwood. There was enough work 

 to last for a three hours' tramp. 



After passing away on the right from the main 

 road, which runs under the railway at Pinner 

 Station, rural life at once became apparent. To 

 the ordinary town-liver, few things appeal with 

 such force to his sense of the beautiful as a hedge 

 thickly covered by the sweet perfumed dog-rose. 

 The hedges at the sides of the road were covered 

 with the blossoms of the roses, some only just 

 bursting their buds, these the safer ones to take 

 away to our homes if we wish to revive their 

 beauty. 



There are some sharp turns in the road, and at 

 each of these turnings there is usually a piece of 

 ground left to grow just as nature wills it. The 

 road skirts closely the opposite hedge, and here 

 nature grows apace, free from interference ; and 

 .here the sorrel, the red campion, and the herb- 

 robert hold sway. It was noteworthy that 

 throughout the whole journey not a single white 

 campion was found. Ragged robin (Lychnis 

 flos-cuculi) soon fell to the lot of a member of the 

 party, whilst the woodbine (Lonicera periclymenum), 

 which crowned the tops of most of the hedges, 

 was the prize of everybody. There is a good deal 

 of stagnant water in this district, and this, of 

 course, gives an undoubted character to the flora. 

 We soon met on our right a large green scum- 

 covered expanse of water, in which we saw a 

 quantity of the large bur-reed (Sparganium ramosum) 

 in blossom, and from which, at some risk, we 

 obtained this, with its coarse-looking yellow 

 blossoms, as well as the great water-plantain, with 

 its small three pink-petalled flowers, and its broad, 

 handsome leaves. The three-cornered stems of 

 the sedges were here very noticeable, whilst 

 clusters of wick-making rush (Juncus effusus) made 

 an interesting show. Reed-mace, or bulrushes 

 (Typlia latifolia) were not sufficiently forward to 

 warrant a seizure. A half-hidden brook, or, 

 perhaps, only a ditch, meandered at the side 

 of the road hence to Eastcott, and in this 

 the glaucus speedwell (Veronica beccabunga), raised 

 its little blue blossoms on a succulent stem, en- 

 shrouded in a mass of thick juicy-looking leaves, 

 whilst trailing away from the older portions of its 



stem were the long racemes, bearing the rapidly- 

 ripening seeds. In the drier parts, hedge wound- 

 wort (Stachys sylvatica) was wonderfully plentiful. 



As the party passed through Eastcott, one lovely 

 wild garden was just seen above the tops of a 

 protecting hedge. A giant umbellifer, such as one 

 might stand under in a shower of rain, made a 

 handsome if not a pretty show. In the pathway 

 leading to the rural homestead was a row of 

 monster mulleins (Verbascum lhapsus), which were 

 evidently flourishing here. This species we were 

 unable, however, to find wild. A little distance in 

 the garden we could descry the comfreys (Symphytum 

 officinale) hanging their graceful heads on plants not 

 less than five feet high. 



A white dead-nettle (Lamium album) was culled, 

 which, although undoubtedly of this species, had 

 its lip-like blossoms tinted with the red of its sister- 

 species, perhaps an instance of cross-fertilization 

 between the two. I always have a liking for the 

 white nettle. The blossoms are so regular and 

 well-formed, and the whorl of ten is, as a rule, so 

 perfect as almost to insist on admiration. There 

 is, too, the. relief of being enabled to handle the 

 nettle-like leaves without being reminded of their 

 stinging properties. Over and over again we have 

 all been warned by our well-meaning friends not to 

 touch it because of its stinging hairs, no distinction 

 being made in the popular mind between Lamium 

 album and Urtica dioica. 



Nipple-wort (Lipsana communis) was making a 

 show. We saw a bank from which came a re- 

 minder of the rapid course of summer, in the shape 

 of the lovely wild spirsea, or meadow-sweet 

 (Spiraa ulmaria), A number of blossoms were 

 noticed from time to time. A few were picked, but 

 most were left to sweeten their native air, and to 

 ensure a continuance of the species on the same 

 spot. Red campion (Lychnis diurna) had in many 

 parts already run to seed. It is a good plan to 

 remove the ripe seed from specimens which are 

 plucked, and scatter it by the wayside. 



The first object of the members of the Selborne 

 Society is the preservation of our native plants and 

 animals. Though the distribution of the seeds of 

 such a common plant as the red campion is in itself 

 a small thing, if the practice were generally followed 

 by ramblers with regard to other plants, the results 

 would in very few years begin to show themselves, 

 in the increased number of our wayside flowers. 



After leaving Eastcott, our road swerved round 

 to the left. One of the fields presented a perfect 

 picture of monster ox-eye daises (Chrysanthemum 

 leucanthemum) and crimson hard-heads (Ceutaurea 

 nigra). Near a pond at the bend in our road we 



