268 Botanizing at Oakshott Heath. 



to tlie right rise the towers and nave of the Crystal Palace at 

 Sydenham, a grand spectacle seen from this point, glittering in 

 the morning sun. Here we make our first find, two feverfews, 

 Chrysanthemum jparthenium and C. inodorum, close together, 

 smothered with fresh flowers, and smiling a welcome in the 

 hedgerow. Immediately opposite is a steep bank, from the 

 summit of which is obtained the best view of the country, and 

 under that bank grow Lastrea filix mas, oreopteris, and dilatata. 

 But we proceed on our journey, passing a grand cover, which is 

 entered by a gate on the right hand, and where there is a wil- 

 derness of ferns and ericas that we dare not look at, or we shall 

 never get to Oakshott. We now approach a landmark ; it is a 

 school-house on the right-hand side of the road, and here we 

 turn off to the left into a quiet country lane. Friend avers that 

 in a coppice to the left of this lane there are some grand speci- 

 mens of fungi; so we commit trespass, cross a meadow, and are 

 soon in the coppice, which at first sight appeared to be paved 

 with pheasants. When these grand personages had made way 

 for us, with a clatter of wings among the ash-poles like the first 

 outbreak of a party of beaters in a wolf country, we found the 

 place paved with ground ivy, violets, common species of 

 veronica, geurn, ajuga, primroses, and buttercups, most of 

 them in bloom, and everywhere abundance of funguses. We 

 bagged Agaricus cecilice, A. rachodes, A. vaginatus, the very 

 beautiful A.fusvpes, and a fine specimen which we could not 

 determine, but apparently intermediate between A. jpersonatus 

 and A. nudus. It had a solid stem, but the pileus was bril- 

 liantly coloured. With the exception of the fungi we saw few 

 plants here of any interest, and were soon on our way again 

 back to the lane, and forward towards the heath. The banks 

 in this lane are, however, worth examination. On one side 

 the soil is dry and has plenty of sun, on the other side it is 

 moist and shaded. On the sunny side there are half a dozen 

 species of hawk weed and other gay composites, on the shady 

 side common lastreas, grand festoons of bryony, and rich 

 beards of ckickweed smothering tufts of primula. The road 

 presently bends to the right and we recognize one of the good 

 botanical stations, here called " Wapping Dock," consisting 

 of a bank and cover on the right hand, and a substantial farm- 

 house and corn-ricks on the left. Here is the first proof that 

 we are near the heath, for the soil of the bank is peaty, and on 

 the bank there are :i few stray tufts of ling an"d erica, and all 

 tho succulent and leafy plants looked starved. Here we found 

 llieracium mlosella, still showing bloom, and mostly smooth- 

 leaved and stunted; Ajmrgia liisjiida, the rough hawk-bit, 

 starved down by drought and poor soil to a most delicate 

 character, and claiming to be regarded as one of the most 



