70 
THE ANKER VALLEY AND ITS FLORA. 
land, a continuation of that vast moorland stretching across 
the country through Fazeley, Middleton, Button Coldfield, to 
Cannock Chase and still further north. Mining, tillage, 
drainage, and other industrial operations seem to have com¬ 
pletely changed the character of the country and its flora. 
But at Bentley, Baxterley, and Baddesley we have still 
remains of the old heath lands. • Even here, however, as well 
as elsewhere in the district, plants usually common to such 
soils are either rare or absent; such plants as the Wood 
Betony, Stachys Betonica ; the Bilberry, Vaccimum myrtillus ; 
the Lousewort, Pedicularis sylvatica ; the Sheep’s-bit, Ja si one 
montana ; the Hawkbits, Leontodon hirtus and L. hispidus ; 
Eyebriglit, Euphrasia officinalis ; Sneeze wort, Achillea ptarmica ; 
Saw-wort, Serratula tinctoria ; Thyme, Thymus serpyllum ; 
Hawkweed, Hieracium umbellatum ; Red Bartsia, Bartsia 
odontites ; Sheep’s Fescue Grass, Festuca ovina ; Green-ribbed 
Sedge, Carex hinervis , are most of them rare, and in some 
cases confined to limited spots in one locality. I have 
searched in vain for the Star-headed Sedge, Carex stellulata ; 
Pill-lieaded Sedge, Carex pilulijera ; the Cross-leaved Heath, 
Erica tetralix ; the Cudweeds, Eilago germanica and E. 
minima; Myosotis versicolor, and the Sun-dew, Eraser a rotun- 
difolia. 
As a rule the cultivated lands of this district are remark¬ 
ably free from weeds, and the plants which Mr. Hewett C. 
Watson designated “Colonists” are absent over large areas. 
Such plants as the Corn Cockle, Lychnis Githago ; the field 
Crow-foot, Ranunculus arvensis ; Shepherd’s Needle, Scandix 
Pecten- Veneris ; Dwarf Spurge, Euphorbia exigua, I have only 
found in one or two localities ; the Stink Mayweed, Anthemis 
cotula, usually abundant in Warwickshire, I have only seen 
as an isolated plant near Shuttington; and the Knawell, 
Scleranthus annuus , in a field near Hartshill; Chrysanthemum 
inodorum and C. Matricaria are usually absent from the fields 
but occur in abundance on the adjacent footways and waste 
places. Poppies are noticeable for their rarity in the corn¬ 
fields ; and the Corn Marigold, Chrysanthemum segetum ; the 
Corn Bottle, Centaurea cyanus , are apparently absent from 
the district; the Oat Grass, Arena fatua ; the White Goose- 
foot, Chenopodium album ; the Slender Fox-tail Grass, Alope- 
curus agrestis, are usually rare ; whilst the Bent Grass, Agrostis 
nigra, is in some of the fields too abundant. 
No marshes of any extent occur in the district, but there 
are marshy places about Baddesley, Shuttington, Atherstone, 
and Wolvey, and the predominating plants in these places 
are the Lady’s-smock, Cardamine pratensis, the Fleabane, Inula 
