174 HISTORY OF THE COUNTY BOTANY OF WORCESTER. 
there is no reason to doubt its being a Worcester plant. The 
Scirpns is obviously S. romanus and has the appearance of 
an independent record, 21 years after its first publication by 
Hudson in the “ Flora Anglica." 
The records to the end of the 18th century may be 
summed up as under:— 
First Period, to 1750 ... ... ... ... ... 11 
Second Period, 1751 to 1800— 
Hudson, Flora Anglica, 2 nd Ed., 1778 ... 1 
# Nash, Coll. Hist. Wore., 1781 ... ... 39 
Stokes, With. Bot. Arr., ) 1787 _ 179 2 ^ 10g 
2 nd Edition ... j 
Withering, Bot. Arr., 3rd Ed., 1796 ... 19 
Sheward, Nash, Suppt., 1799 ... ... 22 
- 190 
201 
The close of the 18th century is notable for the appearance, 
in 1790, of the first of the 36 volumes of the celebrated 
“ English Botany," the figures by James Sowerby, the descrip¬ 
tions by Sir J. E. Smith. We learn from the latter that Dr. 
Stokes was one of his most valued contributors. He writes 
of him (Vol. I., No. 19) “ whose accuracy and extensive infor¬ 
mation none can doubt." 
It will be interesting to mention, in this place, that in the 
description opposite to the plate of Verbascum virgatum, 
No. 550, Vol. 8, 1799, Sir James Smith writes as follows:— 
“ Dr. Stokes first clearly ascertained this species." “ Our worthy 
friend, the Rev. Mr. Baker, took this individual plant, when a 
seedling, from one of the spots near Worcester mentioned by 
Withering, and it flowered in his garden. He informs ns this 
Mullein was first observed growing plentifully in a field near 
Wrexham, by Mrs. Nash, who planted it in her garden at Bevere, 
from whence probably its seeds got to the neighbouring Turnpike 
road to Ombersley, and from thence to the lane leading to Gregory's 
Mill." The plant now grows in several spots in the north of 
the County, where it is difficult to imagine that it can have 
spread from Bevere. 
In Vol. 23, 1806, No. 1,612, Smith writes, under Scirpus 
Holoschoenus, “ The last-named Botanist (Hudson) mentions the 
Scirpus romanus, which I am convinced is a small variety of 
this, as growing in marshes near Throgmorton, Worcestershire." 
* I have allowed the Snowdrop to remain in Nash’s record. But if 
his locality was in Hereford the first record of this species as a 
Worcester plant must be transferred from Nash to Stokes. 
(To be continued.) 
