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a beaiitiful plant ; there is a soft loveliness about it, and by no 

 means a sameness, for departures from the common form are fre- 

 quent. Of autumn flowers, the Warren has a good supply of yellow 

 Composites, Devil's-bit Scaljious, and Gentian. Blackberries would 

 be there if they had a chance to get black. The lower greensand 

 clift", under the Lees, is still interesting to the botanist, but it is 

 getting less so every year, in spite of " notice" boards. The fre- 

 quent slips mean much change, and the planting of firs means the 

 gradual ruin of the flora. At present, the features are the great 

 abundance of Black Mustard, an imported plant of the Cruciferous 

 order (Lepidium Draba, a kind of cress), and a quantity of a 

 foetid yellow-flowered IJmbellifer, called Alexanders (Smyrnium 

 Olusatrum). The last is thick just above the Bathing Establish- 

 ment. The pushing Lepidium is already in sole possession 

 of a good deal of ground, and it is increasing fast in other 

 parts of the county. T^^'enty years ago it was not on our 

 cliff at all, being confined to the south side of the Lower Eoad. 

 The tall, coarse black mustard (Sinapis nigra), with its yellow 

 flowers, is almost "too much of a good thing." Its black seeds, 

 mixed with those of white mustard, go to make the mustard of our 

 tables. Wild mustard, or charlock, known in East Kent as 

 " kinkle," occurs in gardens and waste places at Folkestone. It 

 is to the farmer a very troublesome weed. On the Lees cliff there 

 is a great deal of Chervil, not wild Chervil, but the kind that was 

 once much prized as a pot herb, but has, like many good things in 

 this world, gone out of fashion. Five or six years ago one of the 

 wild Lettuces (Lactuca virosa) appeared on the cliff west of the Lift. 

 It is a tall plant, with a milky juice, and yields a strong extract*, 

 having decided sedative properties. Years back I saw the plant 

 growing on the beach at Lydden Spout, so it seems to have come 

 to us from there. On the banks of ditches west of Hythe the 

 Marsh-mallow (Althea officinalis) still grows. This velvet-leaved 

 plant, with its handsome pink flowers, is one of our treasures. Its 

 root is still largely used, but chiefly on the Continent, as a useful 

 medicine. People call the first roadside mallow they see marsh 

 mallow, just as they called the common dulcamara deadly night- 

 shade. Atropa belladonna, for such is the name of the deadly 

 species, does not grow in this neighbourhood, although it might, 

 as it is fond of chalk. Our woods (and there are some large ones 

 not very far off) are gay with primroses, anemones and blue bells. 

 The fragrant woodrufl' is there, the Herb Paris too, the curious 

 Green Hellebore, the early purple Orchis, Solomon's seal, the But- 

 terfly Orchis, the Lily of the valley, Foxglove, and many another. 

 To me, colour in flowers has been more interesting since I 

 read the hypothesis that says, "All flowers were at first green; 

 from this they diverged to yellow and white. Their next advance 



