164 HISTORY OF THE COUNTY BOTANY OF WORCESTER. July, 1890. 
In Yol. III., part 2, 1849, p. 546, is a notice of “The 
Ancient Straits of Malvern,” by Janies Buckman, F.G.S., 
Professor of Geology and Botany in the Royal Agricultural 
College, Cirencester. There is no date to the notice, but from 
the dates of the neighbouring articles I conclude that it appeared 
in the June number. I am indebted to the late Professor 
Buckman for a copy of the essay, a thin octavo volume of 
thirty pages, published by Longmans. There is no date on 
the title page, nor at the foot of the preface, but, from the 
notice in the “ Pliytologist,” the volume may be assigned to 
the first half of 1849. 
It contains, pp. 13-5, a list of marine plants now growing 
in the valley of the Severn, among them those of the saline 
waters of the Droitwich Canal, the first notice of this peculiar 
feature of the Botany of Worcester. Eighteen species are 
enumerated by Professor Buckman ; the list contains, inter 
alia , die following records :— 
* Lepidium ruderale. Found on the banks of the Droitwich Canal 
in 1847. The discoverers of the plant in this locality were Mr. 
Edioin Lees and Mr. Thomas Baxter , “ Pliytologist,” Vol. III., 
p. 511. The first county record ivas by Dr. Stokes, 1787. “ Rubbish 
on the side of the Severn above Worcester .” It was groioing in 
profusion in July, 1885, at the foot of the dam of the Tardebigg 
reservoir of the Worcester and Birmingham Canal, where it teas 
pointed out to me by my friend Mr. John Humphreys , of Bromsgrove. 
* Arenaria marina. In various spots close to the edge of the saline 
Droitwich Canal. A misnomer. The Droitwich Canal plant is 
the Lepigonum salinum of Kindberg; Sperqularia neglecta, Syme , 
observed by Purton onDefford Common, 1817. See “ Mid. Nat.,” 
Vol. X.,p. 221. 
* Apium graveolens. Abundant in ditches throughout the Yale of 
Severn, from Worcester to Cheltenham and Gloucester. Also 
fringing the Droitwich Canal most luxuriantly. See Stokes, 
“ Mid. Nat.,” Vol. X., p. 152. 
Glaux maritima. In the greatest profusion on the side of the 
Droitwich Canal, between Bevereye and Salwarpe, above 
Worcester. 
* Samolus Valerandi. Defford Common. See Stokes, “ Mid. Nat.,” 
Vol. X., p. 154. 
*f Plantago maritima. Recorded in the “Pliytologist” as having been 
found on Hartlebury Common by Mr. Reece of the Worcester 
Museum. No reference to the volume and page of the 
“ Pliytologist” where the record occurs. I have failed to find the 
record and suspect an erroi'. The plant is marked as extinct in 
Ives's “ Botany of Worcestershire,” 1867. See tabulated IAst of 
Plants, p. 23. See also Scott, “ Mid. Nat.,” Vol. XI., p. 20. 
Atriplex rosea. (A. Babingtonii, Woods.) Gathered on the banks of 
the Worcester Canal by Mr. T. Westcombe, of Worcester. 
Poa (Sclerochloa ) distans. Flourishing abundantly on the banks of 
the Droitwich Canal See 1 cott. “ Mid. Nat.,” Vol. XI., p. 42. 
