lU 



The Naturalist. 



eastern, northern, or western type. They do not comprise many 

 rarities, Rumex maritimus being perhaps the least common. This 

 plant, called sometimes the " golden dock," from the yellow hue 

 which comes over it when the fruit is ripening, is found in ditches in 

 the Marshland district, and as high up as Riccall. 



The wild Michaelmas daisy, Aster Tripolium, is the most showy 

 plant in my list ; its flowers, lilac in the ray, and yellow in the disk, 

 may be found far on into the autumn — whence its name. A variety 

 (A. discoideus) found at the Trent Fall, near Adlingfleet, is without 

 the lilac ray. It attains its greatest luxuriance by the side of the 

 warping drains, along the course of which it may be found up to the 

 edge of the moors. I have seen plants four feet in height. On the 

 Ouse I have not found it above Goole, but on the Don it reaches to 

 Thorne. 



The wild celery is common between Goole and the mouth of the 

 Ouse ; it is found as high up as Wistow, above Selby, but is there 

 perhaps escaped from a garden. The wild plant, though smaller, 

 closely resembles the cultivated form, but is said to be poisonous, like 

 the hemlock and others of the same order. The seeds, or rather 

 fruits, contain in their substance minute reservoirs full of an essential 

 oil which possesses the flavour of celery in an intense degree. Among 

 the rations to be served out to our brave countrymen on the Arctic 

 expedition I notice |oz. of celery seed daily, I suppose because few 

 substances contain a greater amount of flavour in so small a bulk. 



Glaux maritima. This neat little plant is common on most parts of 

 the coast, especially loving muddy estuaries, and, singularly, is also 

 found in the inland salt districts of Worcestershire and Staffordshire. 

 On the banks of the Avon at Bristol I have noticed it as being one 

 of the highest reaching of the maritime plants, and here a few 

 scattered plants may be found as high up as Howden Dyke on the 

 Ouse, and above New Bridge on the Don. 



The sea clubrush {ScirpHS maritimus) is another species which 

 extends far up the shores of tidal rivers, as on the Thames above 

 London. Here it reaches, on the Ouse to Langrick, on the Aire to 

 Newland, and on the Don above New Bridge. 



As might be expected, sea plants become more and more abundant 

 as we proceed down the river from Goole, until at the confluence of 

 the Ouse and Trent the vegetation has quite a sea-side aspect. The 

 increase, however, is due to the multiplication of individuals, not of 

 species. On the banks of the Humber at Whitton and Brough there 



