194 SMITH : YORKSHIRE NATURALISTS AT TANFIELD. 



provided. It is interesting to note that Gagea and the rare Lloydia, 

 two interesting genera of the Tidipece^ although they grow so 

 sparingly with us and are so abundant in the Alps and other regions, 

 both take from British botanists the names by which they are 

 universally known. The plants which made the great display at 

 this time were Wood Anemones, the Lesser Celandine, and Prim- 



' a 



roses, a trio unsurpassed for delicate beauty, glorious colour, 

 and gentle sweetness. Caltha, too, was glowing by every streamlet. 

 The Hawthorn bushes, in welcome contrast to last spring, gave 

 great promise of bloom, which has since been amply fulfilled. The 

 tall, lax panicles of the sub-dioecious Butterbur w r ere very con- 

 spicuous in some places on the river-banks. This plant is practically 

 dioecious, as the male head, although it contains a few pistillate 

 flowers, seldom produces seed. Similarly the female seems to make 

 little use of the few staminate flowers in the centre of its disk, and 

 probably needs the pollen of the other plant to perfect its seed. 

 The Butterbur is ordinarily increased by its creeping rootstock, 

 as the pistillate form is far from common. This is easily recognised 

 by its smaller heads and filiform florets. It elongates greatly both 

 in stem and pedicels after flowering, as it has other work to do, 

 while the spike of the barren plant (which is stouter with larger 

 heads and tubular florets) withers away as the corollas fade. Just 

 outside the village of Tanfield, along the hedge-rows on each side of 

 a deep lane, the Green Hellebore is thoroughly naturalised. It was 

 in its perfection of bloom, and its fine digitate leaves and curious 

 green flowers, crowded with suphur anthers and furnished with horns 

 of nectar, could not fail to attract attention. Here again we have 

 a persistent perianth which, having enclosed and protected the 

 organs of fertilisation, continues to shield and nourish the fruit 

 The Hellebore can hardly be considered native in this station, but 

 it is thoroughly established and evidently spreading rapidly. It was 

 formerly used as a cattle-drench, and was cultivated for the purpose. 

 The most remarkable plant of the expedition was Htitchinsia petraa 

 of which some dwarf specimens were found by Mr. Moss, ot 

 Halifax. This little mountain herb is at home on the limestone 

 rocks about Aysgarth, and its discovery here is, as Mr. Arnold Lees 

 observes, 'an extension of its downward range, though clearly 

 adventive, the seeds washed down from some Wensieydale ridge; 

 another object lesson on the dispersion of plant life by rain/ There 

 are patches of snowdrops on land below the flood-level of the Lre, 

 but I fear that they must not be held to be indigenous. Near the 

 Hellebore, Vinca minor was also established, and Hellehorus f&tiau 

 the relict of an old garden, was sowing itself freely, as also trie 



Naturalist, 



