BOTANY 



The district is abundantly supplied with the rampant fumitory {Fumaria capreolata) ; 

 Curtis in his Flora Londinensis, fasc. 6, tab. 47, published in the latter part of the eighteenth 

 century, gave a good figure of the species, and in the text accompanying his plate stated that 

 it was plentiful about Barnstaple ; the sub-species have been recently discussed and arranged 

 by Mr. H. W. Pugsley in the Journal of Botany for April and May, 1902, pp. 129-36, 

 173-81, tab. 436, where he enumerated six British sub-species, namely : i, F. capreolata proper 

 {= F.pallidiflora, Jord.) ; 2, F. speciosa, Jord. ; 3, F. purpurea, Pugsl. ; 4, F. muralis, Sond. ; 

 5, F. Borai, Jord. ; and 6, F. confusa, Jord. ; all of which except the fourth occur in the 

 Barnstaple district. Mr. Pugsley has kindly examined the specimens in my herbarium and 

 has also favoured me with notes on the distribution of these plants in Devon ; it thus appears 

 that F. Bora't is by far the commonest sub-species in the county, and in north Devon whole 

 fields may sometimes be seen coloured purplish with its flowers, while the other sub-species are 

 comparatively sporadic. Besides the typical form of F. Borai four varieties are recognized : 

 I, var. minor, Clavaud ; 2, var. ambigua, Pugsl. ; 3, var. serotina, Clav, ; and 4, var. muraliformis, 

 Clav., the three latter of which are met with in the Barnstaple district, and the first at 

 Dawlish in the Torquay district ; the typical form is more prevalent in south Devon, and in 

 north Devon the variation is rather in the direction of ambigua ; the sub-species F. speciosa has 

 been found at Lynmouth in this district and at Salcombe near Kingsbridge in the Plymouth 

 district ; and the sub-species to which Mr. Pugsley has given the name purpurea, and which 

 so far as known is not found out of the British Isles, occurs at Lee near Ilfracombe and at 

 Woolacombe in Morte-Hoe parish, both stations being in this district, in situations similar to 

 those of F. capreolata (proper) and sometimes mixed with it. 



The sea-stock {Matthiola sinuata) was mentioned by Polwhele in 1797 as occurring on 

 the rocks adjoining Braunton Burrows, and it still ornaments the maritime cliffs there. 



Braunton Burrows is also noted as the classical station for Fiola Curtisii, a sub-species of 

 the wild pansy {F. tricolor) ; the plant is very abundant, and the colours of the flowers are 

 mostly different shades of yellow but occasionally a violet intermixture occurs. 



The St. Peter's wort {Hypericum elodes) is frequent in boggy grounds and about shallow 

 pools on the high moors, where with its pale yellow flowers it forms a conspicuous feature ; it 

 was recorded for the county in such places in Gibson's edition of Camden's Britannia of 



1695. 



The erect golden saxifrage {Chrysosplenium altemifolium) grows in the valley of the North 

 Yeo not far from Barnstaple, where it was recorded in 1797 ; the common golden saxifrage 

 (C. oppositifoUum) is much more common and plentiful, and in spring forms a beautiful decoration 

 of wet banks and the sides of watercourses. 



Epilobium tetragonum, sub-sp. E. obscurum, was first reported as a British plant in 1856 by 

 C. C. Babington, who found it at Ilfracombe ; it is common in the district. 



Wild madder {Rubia peregrina) was mentioned in Gibson's edition of Camden's Britannia 

 of 1695 as growing on the rocks near the bridge at Bideford and all along the hedges on both 

 sides of the road between Westleigh and Bideford, and in many other places ; it still abounds 

 in several parishes not far from the north coast ; it was found on 7 July 1 662, by Ray at 

 Devil's Point, Stonehouse. 



Senecio squalidus is thoroughly established on rocks and walls at Bideford ; it was recorded 

 by W. S. Hore in the Phytologist, 1842, i. 163, and by H. C. Watson, New Botanist's Guide 

 (1835), i. 20 as collected by Hooker. 



Hieracium murorum, sub-sp. {H, pallidum, var.) H. Schmidtii, var. devoniense, a critical 

 form of hawkweed, grows not far from the sea-coast east of Ilfracombe ; it is very local. 



Mentha pubescens, a sub-species of M. aquatica, was recorded on the authority of Mr. Ley 

 in the Botanical Record Club Report, 1883, p. 193, from 'streamside, on coast opposite Alving- 

 ton [Alwington] ' ; an authentic specimen in the British Museum herbarium for this record 

 belongs rather to M. aquatica proper ; I am not aware of any other record for the sub-species 

 M. pubescens in the county. 



The garlic germander {Teucrium Scordium) is very plentiful on Braunton Burrows, more 

 so probably than in any other part of England ; it formerly occurred in many counties, but is 

 now limited to a few and has generally become very rare. 



The Irish spurge (Euphorbia hiberna) grows in the neighbourhood of Lynton, in the valley 

 of the East Lyn river and its tributary the Badgeworthy water in north Devon and west 

 Somerset and nowhere else in England ; it was found there in 1840 and recorded by N. Ward 

 in the Phytologist, July 1841, i. 21. 



The mountain twayblade {Listera cordata) was discovered by N. Ward and W. S. 



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