US 
THE BOTANICAL LOOKER-OUT, 
shall be compelled to fill my casks with water instead of cider, and in despair 
turn teetotaller—“ necessitas nullas habet leges .” Then, by some means or other, 
such a swarm of caterpillars and Aphides have been wafted to Oaks, Ashes, 
Maples, Apples, and other trees, that the young foliage is eaten up as fast as it 
appears, and at this time Oaks, Ashes, and Apple-trees in my vicinity, are 
nearly as denuded as in the middle of December. Well, I must solace myself 
with flowers, and take lessons on 44 total abstinence.” 
In a former paper I alluded to the localities of plants, and I may here add that 
the habitats some of them affect are equally curious, and form a great charm in 
tempting the exploring foot of botanical research. It may be said in general that 
some plants are found in woods, some in precipices, and others in bogs—but 
where are these woods, precipices, and bogs ?—they must be sought and explored, 
for every one by no means nourishes the same plants, and some are very local, 
and only to be met with in peculiar spots. Not long since I pointed out to a 
friend the habitat of the British Woad {Isatis tinctoria ) on a Red-Marl cliff not 
very distant; but if my good friend were compelled to clamber up every cliff 
and hill within the kingdom of England, dominion of Wales, and town of Berwick- 
upon-Tweed, day by day, till another Isatis met his view, I fear his ascents and 
explorations would produce many an adventure in 
“-th’ imminent deadly breach” 
ere he effectually accomplished his purpose. Another friend and myself were 
nearly a whole day hunting among marshes and ditches a short time since for the 
beautiful Water Violet ( Hottonia palustris ), which we failed to find, though a 
thousand 44 Adders-tongues” which we had dreamt not of, presented themselves 
across our track—yet only two or three days after a fair maiden brought to my 
house a bunch of these self-same Water Violets, which my friend and myself had 
so long looked for in vain. And these lovely gems of intermingled Lilac, white 
and yellow, abound in one watery ditch only in my neighbourhood, while a 
thousand excursions failed to present them ever to my view before. So the 
beautiful Vetch {Vida sglvatica ), whose blossoms, marbled with deep purple 
veins, might, as Sir Walter Scott says, 44 canopy Titania’s bower;” in some 
woods it profusely abounds, and, covering the bushes and trees, makes a delight¬ 
ful show, while in others it might be sought for in vain.. Many of the OrchidecB 
are very local—the beautiful Bee Orchis (0. apiferd) generally only occurs on or 
near Limestone; the Frog Orchis ( Platanthera viridis ) in most pastures, and the 
singular Lizard Orchis has been only met with near Dartford, in Kent. Those who 
live in the vicinity of the Chalk formation may find many beautiful plants confined 
to such habitats, as the Military Orchis (0. militaris ), Monkey Orchis (0. tephro- 
santhos ), and the very singular Green-man Orchis ( Aceras anthropophora ), whose 
flowers have such a strange anthropomorphous aspect, as .to seem like little men or 
