BRITTEN : LONDON BOTANY. 



Ill 



that leadeth from Chaucers torabe to the the old place." We need not, 

 however, go back as far as the days of Gerarde, to read the melancholy list 

 of things that were." A list of Battersea plants, published in 1829, con- 

 tains among others, Hydrocharis Morsus-ran(B, Gicuta virosa, Cardamine 

 umaray and many others, all of which are now exterminated by the ruthless 

 hand of progress ; at Forest Hill, too, the collector thirty-five years ago, 

 might obtain among other plants, Spergula nodosa, Hypericum Androsmmum^ 

 ; Linum mitatissimum, Lathyrus sylvestris, Conium maculatum, Petroselinum 

 segetum, Typha angustifolia, and Apera Spica-venti ; but now, alas ! " the 

 place thereof knoweth (them) no more." 



Leaving the sad contemplation of the past, let us now consider the 

 present, and turn our attention to the plants which may still be collected by 

 the botanist resident in London. If we have lost many of those of the 

 immediate neighbourhood of the metropolis, we must not forget that we have 

 now the aid of railways, which enables us to extend our botanical researches 

 without consequent loss of time ; besides which it mil be found that many 

 plants are still to be seen growing in their old localities. I will enumerate 

 a few of the places over which I have botanised, and the less common species 

 which I have noticed in each of them either this year or last, and which I 

 believe may still be found, premising that my researches have been almost 

 entirely confined to the south and south-western suburbs. 

 ^ Chelsea and Brompton. — Erigeron canadensis is abundant on all waste 



ground, and on old walls, as in Church-street. Reseda luteola grows on 

 waste ground adjoining Oakley-square. The waste ground in Chelsea College 

 last year produced Hyoscyamus niger, Coronopus didyma, and Diplotaxis 

 muralis, (both in abundance), and Chenopodium hybridum, Silene noctifiora 

 was plentiful here two or three years ago ; last year I found it in a similar 

 ( situation near Eel-brook ; Sagina ciliata is abundant on the gravel paths, 

 j and Datum Stramonium frequently appears. On waste ground by the river 

 near Crem-orne Gardens Saponaria offi^cinalis is well established. Following 

 along the road past Cremorne, we come at length to a large meadow, called 

 Eel-brook ; this is the locality where the very rare Gyperus fuscus was first 

 discovered. The ground was formerly very marshy, but has recently been 

 drained, and I fear the plant is consequently lost ; I have specimens col- 

 lected there in 1861. Trifolium fragiferum is still abundant. On the waste 

 j ground and rubbish a little further on, I last year collected Diplotaxis 

 [ muralis, Coronopus didyma, and Mercurialis annua, all in plenty ; also 

 Datura Stramonium, Chenopodium hyhridum, and Amaranthus BUtum, 



