26 
BRISTOL BOTANY, I910. 
This belt of reclaimed salt-marsh was at one time liable to 
inundation by every brimming tide, and the rich green meadows 
w^e now see owe their sole protection from similar visitations to 
the strong sea banks raised for many miles along the shore. 
Numerous rhines and roadside ditches, full and stagnant, give 
evidence on the former condition of the country ; while tortuous 
lanes wander from farm to farm by devious courses perplexing 
to the traveller, who loses his bearings hopelessly if he be without 
a guiding map. The flora is characteristic of marshy lowdand, 
and affords interesting aquatic and paludal species. The willow 
bushes in many places are very picturesque, and luxuriant growths 
of sedges line the margins of the pools. 
A few weeks ago, passing along a ditch near Nupdown, not 
far from Sheperdine and that quaint hostelry the Wind-bound 
Inn, I came upon some tufts of Carex axillaris^ a rare sedge, 
growing with its supposed parents, C. vulpina and C. remota. 
A curious feature of this hybrid deserves attention. While both 
vulpina and remota are stiff enough to stand erect until they wuther, 
the much longer stems of axillaris are too weak to sustain their 
heads, and so bend over to the ground until the panicles rest upon 
and are hidden among the adjacent herbage. In consequence, 
the hybrid may not be noticed unless specially looked for where- 
ever the parent sedges are seen to be growing together. Some 
authors consider that it is C. miiricata^ and not vulpina, which 
has a part in the production of axillaris, and certainly there is 
no reason why this may not be possible. I believe, however, that 
it is not so here at Bristol, where the hybrid is always found in 
close proximity to C. vulpina rather than to the other. There 
have appeared to be secondary hybrids on the remota side associ- 
ated with axillaris in some instances, but of this I am not sure. 
On gaining the exposed sea bank one is conscious of having 
passed to another climate. There is refreshment in the keen salt 
breeze, and novelty and charm in the fine view that opens over 
the broad estuary to the distant hills of Wales and Monmouth- 
shire ; while some miles to the southward the dark cliff of Aust 
is outlined hard and sharp against the sky. The green lawns of 
Sea Meadow-grass (Glyceria maritima) and Sea Plantains, that 
foot the bank, are dotted with hundreds of Sea Starwort (Aster 
Tripolium), the purple-rayed and rayless plants appearing in equal 
numbers ; and a fine shrubbery of Sea Wormwood ( Artemisia 
maritima) occupies a mass of old masonry where the bank has 
a sheltered bend. The outer slope is adorned with a profusion 
of Ox-tongue ( Helminthia echioides ) and Ononis spinosa, with an 
occasional pale blue Succory ; and the Strawberry-headed Trefoil 
roots freely along the base. These contrast strongly with the 
sombre Atriplices that form a fringe along high-water mark. The 
remaining vegetation is a disappointment. There is no Thrift, 
no Sea Lavender or Sea Purslane, no Eryngo or Horned Poppy. 
