374 



Johnson: 'Good King Henry.' 



as if the plant shown were identiral with the one found. In 

 truth, the GoDsefoots are a variable genus. Is it possible that 

 some of the annual species hybridise ? Another question which 

 arises is, whether all our records of Good King- Henry are 

 sound, or whether it has often been mistaken for other Goose- 

 foots. Of course, there are plenty of good records. The back 

 volumes of the 'Naturalist' testify to these. Thus, observations 

 for Cumberland appear in 1886 (p. 331), 1890 (p. 333), etc.; 

 Yorkshire, 1886 (p. 140), 1895 (p. 13), etc., and so for the other 

 Northern counties. An inspection of the Floras of other 

 districts would doubtless supplement the list. Watson {Cybele) 

 estimates that Good King Henry is found in seventy counties in 

 Great Britain, the Southern limit being Cornwall, the Isle of 

 Wight, and Kent, and the Northern, Ross, Moray, and Dum- 

 barton. Yet, subject to correction from other observers, I 

 venture to doubt whether the plant is as common as the text- 

 books would indicate. We know that this discrepancy is 

 noticeable with several herbs formerly employed as esculents, 

 flavourings, or specifics, w^hich, having once been more abun- 

 dant, are still so described. Henbane, Borage, and Deadly 

 Nightshade will serve as examples, and I would suggest a 

 partial reason for the erstwhile abundance in the cultivation of 

 these plants in the old-world olitories attached to mediaeval 

 mansions and monastic foundations. 



That Good King Henry is of widespread occurrence has 

 been already shown, but this does not necessarily preclude the 

 supposition that the plant is a stranger in our isles, although 

 these might be expected to fall within the zonal range. The 

 vertical range is also very great — from 1,200 feet according to 

 Hooker (300-400 feet, Watson), in the North of England, 

 down to what is practically sea-level in Lincolnshire — within 

 a stone's throw of the curious maritime relatives of Marquery. 

 In the summer of 1904, I noticed Good King Henry at great 

 heights in Switzerland. At Schwarenbach, at the lower end of 

 the Dauben See, near the Gemmi, it grows at a height of about 

 7,000 feet. At the hamlet of Findelen, near Zermatt, where, 

 Baedeker tells us, we find the highest cornfields in Switzerland, 

 it reaches 6,800 feet, whilst on the Riffel z\lp, also near Zermatt, 

 it actually occurs at 7,300 feet above sea-level. The plant is 

 rankest and most plentiful in the fertile soil near the cowsheds 

 and chalets, a fact noticed by the peasants, who, however, 

 declare that it has not been cultivated there. But this is by no 

 means its only habitat. Gremli says, ' Rubbish heaps, road sides ; 



Naturalist, 



