A HISTORY OF DEVONSHIRE 



Temperature in shade, annual, in Fahrenheit degrees 51-60 



„ „ mean monthly maximum „ 58-22 



„ „ „ „ minimum , 44-99 



Hygrometer : mean monthly — dry bulb S°'^4 



,, wet bulb 48-9+ 



„ „ „ dew-pomt. • •_ • 40-96 



„ „ „ percentage of humidity 87 



Rainfall: numberof days on which -01 inch or more of rain fell in a year 184 



„ total annual, in inches 37'S4' 



Wind : number of days on which it blew from N. by E. to E., annual 76 



„ E.byS.toS. „ 66 



„ S. byW. toW. „ 107 



„ W.byN.toN. „ 86 



„ „ calm „ 30 



The ramping fumitory {Fumaria capreolata) is frequent in the district ; the sub-species 

 F. pallidiflora was first recorded for Britain by C. C. Babington in i860, and the first locality 

 for it given by him was Salcombe ; the sub-species F. confusa was considered by Archer Briggs 

 to be the one most common in the county. 



Hypericum undulatum was first recorded as a British plant by Archer Briggs in 1864 from 

 the neighbourhood of Plymouth ; it has subsequently been noticed in the Barnstaple, Torring- 

 ton and Tavistock districts ; it occurs also in Cornwall. 



The Plymouth strawberry [Fragaria muricata) is a monstrous state of the common straw- 

 berry {F. vesca) and was first found in a Plymouth garden ; Parkinson in his Paradisus (1629) 

 figured it on page 527 with the name of ' the prickly strawberry,' and on page 528 referred 

 to it as follows : ' One Strawberry more I promised to shew you, which although it be a wilde 

 kinde, and of no use for meate, yet I would not let this discourse passe, without giving you 

 the knowledge of it. It is in leafe much like unto the ordinary, but difFereth in that the 

 flower, if it have any, is greene, or rather it beareth a small head of greene leaves, many set 

 thicke together like unto a double ruffe, in the midst whereof standeth the fruit, which when 

 it is ripe, sheweth to be soft and somewhat reddish, like unto a Strawberry, but with many 

 small harmlesse prickles on them, which may be eaten and chewed in the mouth without any 

 maner of offence, and is somewhat pleasant like a Strawberry ; it is no great bearer, but those 

 it doth beare, are set at the toppes of the stalks close together, pleasant to behold, and fit for a 

 Gentlewoman to weare on her arme, etc., as a raritie in stead of a flower.' A somewhat 

 similar plant is figured by Barrelierus, Plant. Gall. Hispan. et Ital. (1714), tab. 90, with the 

 name of Fragaria spinosa fructu. For further particulars see Briggs, Fl. Plym. p. 108 and 

 Journ. But. 1898, p. 127, where a figure of it is reproduced from the Gardener's Chronicle 

 for 1887. 



The crimson grass-vetch {Lathyrus Nissolia) was stated by Polwhele in 1797, on the 

 authority of Mr. Cornish of Totnes, to be very common in the southern parts of the 

 county, and (Polwhele added) in every other part ; it appears during recent years not to be 

 common, and about Plymouth to be spasmodic in its occurrence. 



The sweet-scented agrimony [Agrimonia Eupatoria, sub-sp. A. odorata) was recorded 

 in 1853 ^ occurring in Devon and Cornwall, and by Archer Briggs in 1866 as in the 

 Plymouth district ; it occurs also in the Torrington, South Moltori, Torquay and Tavistock 

 districts. 



The field eryngo [Eryngium campestre) was found by Ray 7 July 1662, and recorded by 

 him {Cat. Pl.Angl. [1670], ed. i, p. 105), 'on a rock which you descend to the Ferrey from 

 Plymouth over into Cornwall ' ; Archer Briggs found it still there in 1880 ; but it was 

 reported in 1891 to be nearly extinct owing to the greater public use of the site. 



Carum verticillatum was found by Archer Briggs about a mile from Cornwood railway 

 station 3 August 1882 ; previous records of it for the county had been called in question. 

 The moth mullein {Verbascum Blattaria) was recorded by Hudson in 1778 as inhabiting 

 gravelly places about Plymouth and Ashburton ; the sub-species V. virgatum also occurs in the 

 district and may have been the plant intended by Hudson. 



The abundance of the balm-leaved figwort [Scrophularia Scorodonia) about the town of 

 Kingsbridge is a very noticeable feature in its botany ; in 1878 there was plenty of it on the 

 hedge banks all round the town and in many spots some miles beyond ; also in greater or less 

 quantities in a south-easterly direction a little beyond Charleton, at a station near East Down, 

 by the lane ascending the hill from Frogmoor, and between the hamlet of Ford and Chivel- 



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