392 FLORA OF OXFORDSHIRE. 
Herbarium. Fortunately most of his records have been since confirmed, 
Bromus madritensis and Carex strigosa being the most notable exceptions. 
Dr. Sheffield, who is described as one of the best botanists at Oxford, 
a friend and contemporary of Sir Joseph Banks, Dr. Lightfoot, and 
Dr. Sibthorp, found Carex strigosa in Witham Wood. 
Sibthorp was buried in the Abbey Church at Bath, where there is 
a monument to his memory. 
There is no portrait of Sibthorp in the Hope Collection. 
James Benwell, born about 1735, was employed for many years as 
a workman in the Botanic Gardens; he was an ardent lover of Botany, 
and although uneducated was an intelligent observer, and possessed an 
intimate acquaintance with the plants of the neighbourhood. He attended 
Dr. Sibthorp on his excursions when collecting material for the Flora 
Oxon., and was the first to discover Paris quadrifolia and a few other 
rare plants in the county. ‘His integrity, industry, and a natural pro- 
priety and courtesy of manners gained him the respect and esteem of all 
who knew him.’ He died in 1819, aged 84 years. <A print of him was 
published a few years before his death from a drawing by Mr. A. R. Burt, 
and a copy is contained in the Hope Collection. 
Dr. Goodenough made the next addition to our list by recording in 
Smith's English Flora the occurrence of Hrodium moschatum. In the 
same book Mr. Bicheno was credited with the discovery of Tilia ulmifolia 
(L@. parvifolia) and Rubus rhamnifolius. Sir James Smith quoted Ox- 
fordshire for Campanula rapunculoides on faith of a note in Buddle’s 
Herbarium which no subsequent record confirms, for Lonicera Caprifoliwm 
found by Mr. Butt and thought by the finder to be indigenous, for Daphne 
Mezereum found by Mr. J. Wheeler, and for Hriophorum vaginatum (now 
extinct) and Salix Lambertiana. 
In Purton’s Midland Flora, 1817-1821, Dr. Williams, Professor of 
Botany, is stated to have found Tulipa sylvestris, Baxter is quoted for 
Bromus racemosus and Nephrodium dilatatum and the Rev. W. T. Bree 
identifies Sibthorp’s Hieraciwm cerinthoides with H. amplexicaule, and 
records for the first time as an Oxford plant the beautiful Leucojum 
aestivum. 
William Baxter, Curator of the Oxford Botanic Garden, was born at 
Rugby on Jan. 15th, 1787. He was appointed to the Oxford Botanic 
Garden in 1813. In 1817 he was admitted as an associate of the Linnean 
Society. ‘At this time Botany had sunk at Oxford to its lowest level. 
Sherard, Dillenius, and Sibthorp belonged to the past. Dr. Williams, who 
occupied the Professorial chair at this time, although an elegant scholar, 
added nothing to botanical science, and for practical instruction in botany 
the undergraduates in Oxford had recourse to the teachings of Mr. Baxter,’ 
Gard. Chron, Nov. 4, 1871. In 1825 Mr. Baxter issued his Stirpes 
Cryptogame O.xonienses and began forming his collection of Mossges 
and Lpiphyllous Fungi, when the study of the latter plants was limited 
