274 Botanizing at Oaksliott Heath. 



■were for the most part withered and white, though there was 

 still enough bloom to make many a dazzling patch and streak 

 of colour. In one of our previous visits we had seen but not 

 gathered the great dodder, Cuscuta Europcea, and we made a 

 search for it now, but in vain ; C. epithymum abounded on 

 every hand, and in some places covered breadths of ground of 

 more than a rod in extent so densely as to constitute a rich red 

 matting, through which the ling struggled, and not in vain. 

 It was like quitting a banquet after only smelling the viands, 

 when we started once more on our journey ; we felt we could 

 not feast to our fill on this lovely spot, but a journey was 

 resolved on and a journey must be made. 



We retraced our steps towards the gully and followed its 

 course, diverging from it only to return again. Met with Jun- 

 ■cus squarrosus in all sorts of shapes, once mistook it for a tuft 

 of spergula, and once for a tuft of Festuca ovina, but always 

 determined it without trouble, for in all its states it carried 

 fruit, and though position altered its appearance, it seemed to 

 luxuriate equally in wet hollows as upon the driest of the sandy 

 slopes. As we push along in the direction of the gully, we 

 find we are entering an incipient pine-wood. First we meet 

 with little seedling pines of a few inches high, next larger 

 specimens, now a cluster, next larger isolated specimens, and 

 next fine masses, crowding thickly and threatening to kill 

 out those that are in the thickest of the mass. The ground is 

 gradually acquiring a spongy character, rushes increase, and 

 the heaths change their character, the dodder disappears, and 

 so does the lichen. The ground gradually acquires a rich car- 

 peting of verdure, sprinkled all over with the blossoms of the 

 heath, and we discover that we are approaching what we may 

 call the garden of Oakshott, a land of luxury as regards its 

 floral products, but needing waterproof boots, for the dry gully 

 has changed to a full watercourse, the hill to a hollow, and we 

 are entering upon a vast bog, densely crowded with luxurious 

 vegetation. A'Ve continue our course, still following the boun- 

 dary of the Scotch firs, the seedlings of which are forming 

 another forest on these wet parts of the heath, and at last we 

 make our second halt beside a large black pool, which soddens 

 the ground for a vast distance all around, and is visibly con- 

 nected with extensive tracts of real bog beyond. Here we find 

 ourselves surrounded with wonders and curiosities, which it 

 would require weeks to explore effectively. "Here is a little 

 dark green gem with minute blue flowers. What is it ? It 

 proves to be Pol/ygala vulgaris, the common milkwort. Next 

 wo discover masses of an apparently scrophulaceous plant, 

 which proves to bo Scutellaria minor, quite a gem among the 

 trifles of the bog. Next we observe that wherever there is a 



