On the Species of the Genus Primula in Essex. 
173 
hourhood. I do not mean to say tliat it is exclusively 
confined to Bardfield, for this is not the case. Tlie only 
claim which the species has to be called the “Bardfield 
Oxlip - ' is that the first specimens recognized in this country 
came from that place. The plant grows profusely in all the 
woods between Bardfield and Saffron Walden,—a distance of 
nearly fifteen miles,—while it extends for many miles north, 
and some miles south, of this district. The statements to 
which I object are such as the following, in which it is 
spoken of as inhabiting “Clayey woods and meadows in the 
eastern counties” 30 ; and “In woods and meadows on clay 
soil. Local. Plentiful in some parts of Essex, Suffolk, and 
Cambridge.'’ 31 These statements, though they may not be 
incorrect, still convey a wrong impression. Mr. Doubleday 
does not make the case much clearer when he observes, 32 
“It is not a little strange that this plant should be confined, 
as it apparently is, to a few localities in Essex.” Neither 
does Mr. H. C. Watson bring out the facts of the case, though 
he makes, as usual, some most sensible remarks upon the 
species. He says of its distribution—“Area 3 & 4. S. limit 
in Essex, N. limit in Suffolk; estimate of provinces 2, of 
counties 8.The true species has been observed in 
different localities in Essex, &c.” 33 In the ‘Elora of Essex’ 
we find the following list of localities :— 
“ (1) Very abundant in most of the woods round Walden ; 
Quendon ood, with P. vulgaris and its var. caulescens 
(Gibson); Henham (E. Forster); Bardfield, in meadows, 
accompanied by P. veris and not vulgaris (T. Bentall); Saling 
(E. G. Varenne); Bumpstead, Widdington, Ashdon (Gibson); 
(2) Sparingly in a meadow near Grinstead Green (T. Bentall i; 
Panfield (E. Harding, of Great Henny); (3) Springfield 
( A. Wallis, late of Brighton, extracted from Proceedings of 
Lond. Bot. Soc.); frequent near Broomfield (Jonathan Grubb). 
This rare British plant is common in some parts of Essex. 
Near Walden it is much more abundant than P. vulgaris, 
whose place it takes in the woods.” 
30 Bab. Man. Brit. Bot., 1867, 6 ed., p. 277. 
31 ‘ English Botany,’ 1867. 
32 ‘ Phytologist,’ vol. i., p. 295. 
33 1 Cybele Britannica,’ 1849, p. 292. 
