NOTES ON THE REA VALLEY. 
153 
The whole stretch of valley from Calthorpe Park to the 
Lickey Hills, a distance of seven or eight miles, seems to be 
uniformly composed of the Keuper Red Marl of the Triassic 
system ; not presenting, therefore, that variety of formation 
which is conducive to a richly diversified flora. In the 
Lickey Hills themselves we have a combination of Llandovery 
Rocks and Quartzite, which Professor Lapworth describes as 
“ resting upon asliy-looking rocks of Pre-Cambrian age;” but 
it is only with a portion of the Lickey Hills the Rea Valley is 
connected. The geographical features of the Rea Valley are 
also, in some respects, unfavourable to an extensive flora. 
There is an absence of such primeval bogs as those of Sutton 
Park, Colesliill, and Hartlebury, with their rare marsh plants 
and bog mosses, the spliagnums, which are wanting in my 
collection. Marshy places there are of some, though of less 
value. Neither have I found extensive woods, though there 
are some coppices, and, towards Frankley, small woods and 
dingles, which invite inspection. The valley for the most 
part is open, and consists of meadows, cultivated fields, and 
narrow lanes. The principal botanical stations are the 
Pebble Mill Pool and Pebble Mill Fields, Stock’s Wood and 
canal banks at Selly Wick, and the Dog Pool Lane, Lifford, 
King’s Norton, Nortlifield, Frankley Beeches, and Rubery. 
Travelling through the Rea Valley, as now indicated, I will 
mention some of the principal plants I have found there. 
The two parks, Calthorpe and Cannon Hill, being modern, 
furnish little to record, unless it be Myriophyllum alternifiorum, 
in flower, which abounds in Cannon Hill Pool, with the 
American weed, Elodea canadensis. The Pebble Mill Pool is 
a station that is doomed to pass away, as it is being gradually 
filled up—a loss to the botanist, but a gain to society, as the 
scene of some suicides, and pregnant with malaria. If 
thoroughly searched its yield, I think, would be good. I have 
obtained there Nymphaa alba , though not in flower ; Nastur¬ 
tium amphibium, of luxuriant growth ; Lychnis Githayo , a 
colonist; Artemisia vulyaris', Iris Pseudacorus, the Yellow Flag; 
Carex riparia; and of grasses, Diyraphis arundinacea and 
Phalaris canariensis. From the neighbourhood of Selly Wick, 
including canal banks and Stock’s Wood, I have obtained 
Polyyala vulyaris, Genista tinctoria, Vicia anyustifolia, Primus 
Avium , Rubus Llaius, LLieracium vulyatum, Lemna trisulca, the 
Ivy-leaved Duckweed, and Carex remota. The Dog Pool Lane 
and adjoining fields have supplied me, among other plants, 
with Orobus tu'ierosus, Primus dmnestica, Adoxa Mo sc hate llina, 
Dipsacus pilosus, the Shepherd's Teazle, Petasites vulyaris, 
frequent along the sandy banks of the Rea; and Colchicum 
