BOTANY 



stone 3 or 4 miles from Kingsbridge up to 400 feet of altitude ; in a southerly direction 

 on the lower road to Salcombe as far as the little vale on the southern side of Callapit ; and in 

 a south-westerly direction at West Alvington, at a station within a quarter of a mile from 

 Malborough village about 320 feet high nearly 4 miles from Kingsbridge, and in the parish 

 of Thurlestone on the eastern bank of the Avon estuary close to the hamlet of Bantham ; the 

 flowers of S. Scorodonia are rather brighter in colour than those of either S. nodosa or .S. aquatica, 

 the purple taking more of a reddish tint, and it is decidedly the prettiest of the three species ; 

 wasps are as partial to its flowers as to those of the other two species ; it must not be supposed 

 that the mica-slate formation has anything to do with the occurrence of this plant, since it is 

 not on this rock but on the Devonian slate that it grows in such great quantity (Archer 

 Briggs). 



The Cornish money-wort {Sibthorpia europad) was recorded by Bishop Gibson in 1695 as 

 occurring in Devon no less frequently than in Cornwall and on the like watery banks, and 

 Hudson in 1762 reported it as frequent in both counties by streams and springs ; Jones and 

 Kingston in 1829 on the authority of Sir Francis Drake and Mr. Hudson reported it about 

 the springs in the village of Tor near Harford. Ray had placed this as a bastard species 

 under Alsine, and some of the old botanists suspected that it was a hybrid between Chry- 

 sosplenium altern'tfolium and Hydrocotyle vulgaris. It is on record that Linnaeus, thinking that 

 the English had erroneously multiplied the species, doubted the existence of the plant, until 

 in 1750 Dr. Sibthorp of Oxford convinced him of its reality by sending to him a good 

 specimen (Polwhele). It occurs also in the Barnstaple, Torrington, Exeter and Tavistock 

 districts. 



The round-leaved mint [Mentha rotundifotia) is by no means rare in the county, and 

 in some spots of the extreme southern part of this district it is quite a common plant and 

 apparently indigenous. 



The bastard balm {Melittis Melissophyllum) was recorded in 1650 on the authority of 

 Dr. Richard Heaton of Dublin as found near Totnes ; it is more frequent in this county 

 than elsewhere in England, and occurs in all the districts. Mi grandiflora^ with a larger 

 very handsome corolla, can scarcely be distinguished ; it was r^^orted from the neighbour- 

 hoods of Barnstaple and Ashburton. ' 



The strap wort {Corrigiola littoralis) was recorded in 178 ■j' by Stokes in his edition of 

 Withering's Botanical Arrangement, p. 322, as found on Slapt^n Sands and near the Start 

 Point. I 



Scirpus Savii is not uncommon in the district ; it is probably the ' smooth sea rush- 

 grass of Plimmouth ' mentioned in Parkinson's Theatrum bot^nicum (1640), p. 1271 and 

 figured on p. 1 270. 



Sea kale {Crambe maritima) was cultivated in 1795 from plan ^^ -oqginally obtained 

 from Slapton Sands {Phytologist, September i860, p. 288). I 



The snow-flake [Leucojum testivum), until recently found on ( the bankf of the Dart, is 

 now apparently quite extinct [British Association Report for 1 891, p. 362). 



The following are among the more remarkable and interestihg specieL which occur in 

 the district : — 



Ranunculus circinatus, Sibth. 

 Papaver hybridum, L. 

 Brassica alba, Boiss. 

 Diplotaxis tenuifolia, DC. 

 Raphanus maritimus, Sm. 

 Silene noctiflora, L. 



Sagina apetala, L., sub-sp. S. maritima, Don. 

 Spergularla salina, Presl, var. Lepigonum neg- 

 lectum, Kindb. 



— rupestris, Lebel 

 Polycarpon tetraphyllum, L, 

 Hypericum hirsutum, L. 

 Lavatera arborea, L. 

 Geranium sanguineum, L. 



— perenne, Huds. 

 Medicago denticulata, Willd. 

 Trifolium fragiferum, L. 



— resupinatum, L. 

 Lotus hispidus, Desf. 



I 89 



Lotus angustissimus, L. 



Vicia lutea, L. 



Prunus Cerasus, L. 



Pyrus germanica, Hook. f. 



Myriophyllum spicatum, L. 



Callitriche verna, L., sub-sp. C. obtusangula, 



Le Gall 

 Epilobium lanceolatum, Seb. & Maur. 



— roseum, Schreb. 

 Pimpinella major, Hudson 

 Crithmum maritimum, L. 

 Peucedanum sativum, Benth. & Hook. f. 

 Daucus Carota, L., sub-sp. D. gummifer, Lam. 

 Sambucus Ebulus, L. 



Galium verum, L., var. ochroleucum, Syme 

 Dipsacus sylvestris, L. 

 Inula Conyza, DC. 



— crithmoides, L. 

 Serratula tinctoria, L. 



12 



