x] FLORA OF OXFORDSHIRE. 
before him the fertile country studded with villages across to 
Shotover and Dorchester, and far beyond this the long line of 
larches near Tadmarton Camp; or, looking southwards over the 
broken lines of the Bucks chalk hills, he may in favourable 
climatal circumstances catch a glimpse of the spire of Harrow, 
or see the Thames in sinuous course turn by Marlow towards 
Clifden. To the botanist these woods offer all the charms of 
solitude and freedom; he may wander for miles through verdant 
alleys whose groundwork begins in early spring with the glossy 
gold of the smaller celandine, followed by the pale stars of the 
wood Anemones, and myriads of primroses, these giving place to 
sheets of hyacinths “that seem the heavens upbreaking through 
the earth,” the blue being here and there relieved with the 
Yellow Archangel or brightened with Stitchwort; still later on 
the Bluebells are replaced by masses of the fragrant Woodruff, 
and these by the more sombre colouring of the Bugle. Then 
come the creamy white flowers of the Helleborine, the dull livid 
spikes of the Bird’s-nest Orchis, and the blue Forget-me-nots 
giving place to a galaxy of summer flowers, brightening in later 
months into the brilliant yellow of the Ragworts and purple of 
the Foxgloves. 
The grassy downs too in spring are resplendent with the 
Milkwort in all its purity of colour, whether of that typical blue 
which rivals the Swiss gentian in beauty, or fading into white or 
blushing to pink; while mixed with the Milkwort, and if yielding 
to it in loveliness yet excelling it in floral display, are brilliant 
patches of the rich orange yellow Hippocrepis. Later on appear 
the rosy crimson spikes of the Pyramidal Orchis, and the pale 
lemon flowers of Lady’s Fingers, and the drooping blue flowered 
Campanula. The arable land seems scarcely besmirched with 
cultivation; even there glitter bright masses of Yellow Mustard 
that warrant the Laureate’s simile of the knight’s shield which 
“Shone far off as shines a field of charlock in the sudden sun 
between two showers.” And if perchance the land have remained 
fallow, the bright flowers of Iberis, sometimes suffused with rich 
purple, the glaucous foliage of rare Fumarias, the deep crimson 
petals of the hybrid poppy, the bright rosy pink spikes of Sain- 
foin and Yellow Toad-flax, combine to form a varied show. 
And, as for the hedgerows, as George Eliot says, “it was worth 
