63 



SOME FLOWER FEATURES OF THE 

 SOUTHERN AINSTY. 



F. ARNOLD LEES, M.R.C.S., L.R.C.P.Lond., 



Leeds ; Author of ' The Flora of West Yorkshire.' 



Recently, in the course of a pleasant ramble from Ulleskelf, 

 via Ryther Ferry, past Nun-Appleton and Appleton Roebuck to 

 Steeton Hall — the old home of the Fairfax — and back to Bolton, 

 I was somewhat struck by the number of doubtfully-native or 

 certainly-introduced species which appear to be more than hold- 

 ing- their own amid the indigenous vegetation. At Ryther 

 I noticed the Scotch Thistle {Onopordon) finely-decorative of 

 growth, cheek by jowl with luxuriantly trespassing Hop, its 

 shoots snaking forward with threatening pythonic curve ; and 

 on the north bank of the Wharfe at Ryther Ferry quite a jungle 

 of the yellow-green Thalictrum flavum — this last at least a native 

 beyond doubt. But what surprised me most was to come upon 

 several bushes, almost trees, of Viburnum Ldntana by the road- 

 side near the newly-erected Lodge at the north-west corner of 

 Nun-Appleton Park. These were in fine fruit, the elderberry- 

 like cymes heavy with oval discoid fruit of three colours — 

 pinking green, bright red, and dull purple-black. I do not 

 account the ' Mealy Wayfaring-tree ' above suspicion, but here 

 it plays the part of homester almost convincingly. The Mistle- 

 toe used to grow hereaw T ay : does yet, I believe : why should 

 not Viburnum be equally a relic, in this kindly climated, 

 sequestered corner of the Vale ? Who knows what the Bishops' 

 foresters planted, or Fairfax's, when the Nunnery was installed 

 hundreds of years ago ? The w hole district was a fen-level 

 liable to inundation until the ' Bishop's dike ' and ' Bishop's 

 wood ' were made for necessity and pleasure. This part of the 

 Ainsty does not seem to have found its natural chronicler, albeit 

 antiquarians have written more than enough about Steeton, 

 Sherburn, and Cawood. Then, just to the east of Roebuck 

 village is a rectangularly moated pasture, locally known as 4 the 

 Daffy field.' On the Ordnance Map the spot is marked ' Site of 

 Brocket Hall,' but there "is no aboveground sign of Norman 

 masonry now (Roman tiles and a jar from there are in the 

 Postmaster's possession) ; and brocarte in Norman-French meant 

 a Roebuck which smells suspiciously like a rat, as if the village- 

 name was modern, a translation of some Norman settler's 

 patronym. I hint all this, tentatively, because it is not 



1902 February i. 



