Wicken Fen. 
79 
Again, Mr. G. H. Verrall said, in a letter written last year,— 
“ Considering the remarkable change, it may interest you to know 
that when I first saw the Fen in 1875, it was almost a mass of 
Thalictrum fLavum, which is now comparatively uncommon.” 
But perhaps the most far reaching change of all is the 
apparently rapid increase in the number of bushes. 1 As this may 
herald important changes in the not very distant future, the subject 
will be treated in some detail. 
Dotted over the Fen are numbers of bushes. While com¬ 
paratively few on the western portion, towards the north-east they 
are so abundant as to form large and continuous thickets. The 
following are the woody plants which occur on Wicken Fen : — 
Salix cinerea , 5. caprea, S. repens, var . fusca, &c.; Myrica Gale ; 
Betula alba ; Rhaynnus Frangula ; Viburnum Opulus. All these are 
well known as moisture-loving species, and are frequent components 
of marsh-thickets. 2 Alnus glutinosa, though common enough at 
Chippenham Fen, and also as one of the constituents of the buried 
forests of the Fenland, 3 appears to be entirely absent here. 
In addition to the above, the following species, less commonly 
associated with very damp soils, are to be found:— Crataegus 
Oxyacantha, Rhaynnus catharticus and Ligustrum vulgare. 
Several specimens also of Pyrus Aucuparia occur ; a rather 
large ash ( Fraxinus excelsior ) is to be seen on St. Edmund’s Fen, 
while on the Sedge Fen, growing directly on the peat, is a solitary 
young Quercus. 
The commonest species of all is Rhamnus Frangula. Between 
the centre of the Fen and Wicken Lode village this species alone 
forms many extensive thickets ; so dense that practically all other 
vegetation is excluded. The great number of seedlings and young 
plants of various ages which are found not only bordering these 
thickets, but elsewhere on the Fen, bears witness to the rapid rate 
at which this species is increasing. Its fleshy fruits are readily 
eaten by birds, and seeds frequently found in bird-droppings afford 
evidence that this is a common means of dispersal. 
Salix fusca also forms extensive growths in some parts. But 
apart from the two cases just mentioned, elsewhere on the Fen it 
is very usual to find the bushes growing in mixed clumps. Such a 
1 Cf. Wallis, l.c., p. 220. 
2 Warming, l.c., p. 173 ; and Friih & Schroter, l.c., pp. 414 et seq. 
3 Miller & Skertchly, l.c., p. 567. 
