BRITTEN : A PEW LOCAL PLANTS OP HIGH WYCOMBE. 313 



pretty plentiful in oar woods, where, indeed, Professor Martyn found it to 

 grow ' commonly,' when he was Vicar of Little Mario w, at the end of the 

 last century. Cottagers and gamekeepers have, however, greatly thinned its 

 growth, and anyone who would find it must indeed seek diligently. It 

 would occupy to much of your time were I to enlarge upon my own 

 attempts at its rediscovery ; I may, however, mention that I first undertook 

 the search in January, 1864, and never was anything so like looking for ' a 

 needle in a bottle of hay ' as the hunting for that plant, then presumably in 

 a budding stage, among dozens of tiny elms, ashes, &c., all of which really 

 looked at first sight promising. In the following May, two botanists came 

 from London to search for the plant, and to my astonishment, and I must 

 add, envy, found it both in TenneU's and Dane Garden Woods. A week 

 after, I had an opportunity of following in their steps, but again without 

 success. I will not deny that strong doubts crossed my mind as to the 

 genuineness of the rediscovery ; we are, I fear, naturally disposed to depre- 

 ciate the success of eiforts which we ourselves have made in vain. And 

 so the time passed on, and 1865 came, and I hunted again and again unsuc- 

 cessfully, while, by way of adding insult to injury, new enquiries elicited 

 accounts of new localities. Thus, a woman gathering sticks had seen it ' 0 

 yes, she had seen it, and it grew about so high from the ground ' (' so high' 

 being about 7 feet), leading me to infei that her willingness to please was 

 greater than her adherence to truth. It grew near Amersham, it grew in the 

 Bradenham woods, it grew on ISTaphiil Common, it grew at Kingshill, it 

 grew in Winch Bottom ; it in fact, seemed quite ubiquitous, with the slight 

 diiference of not being visible anywhere. There seemed a spell against my 

 ever seeing Daphne in her native haunts, until, on a fine spring day, the 12th 

 of last April, a last search was undertaken in Dane Garden Wood, and, to 

 my great delight, was crowned with success ; for in one part of the wood, 

 obscure and unfrequented, were two or three fine Mezereon trees, about two 

 feet high ! I need scarcely add that I went home very considerably elated, 

 feeling that my perseverance had been well rewarded. Perhaps it may seem 

 to some that the discovery was hardly worth the trouble expended upon it, 

 but the true naturalist will, I am sure, sympathise with my delight at my 

 ultimate success. I have since noticed a fine plant in berry, in the wood 

 opposite the Union House ^ Saunderton, just above Avering Down Farm. 

 The berries of the Mezereon are highly poisonous both to man and animals, 

 although the robin and other birds devour them without detriment. The 

 bark, also, is very acrid, and a piece of it in a fresh state laid upon the skin 



