HISTORY OF ESSEX BOTANY.
183
As they are few and the book is rare I will give them at
length, as they occur.
p. 20. " Gramen minimum Anglo-Britanicum. Arenoso solo versus
Oceanum aliquot miliaribus a Lio, prope Thamesis ostia oritur, folia admodum
exilia, plura simul congesta, unciam & sesquiunciam longa : cauliculi ipsis
foliolis paulo longiores, in quibus arctiores eminentiae, raras spicas parvulas
referentes."
This is identified by Sir J. E. Smith (English Flora (1824),
vol. i., p. 85) with his Knappia agrostidea i.e. Mibora verna Beauv.;
but Gibson remarks on this identification "neither old herbaria,
nor diligent search in the locality confirm this. As Agrostis
pumila Light is abundant there, it may have been the plant
originally intended." To Agrostis pumila L., classed in the
London Catalogue (9th edition) as a variety of A. vulgaris With.,
Nyman38 adds the comment, "status morbosus, spiculis Uredine
corruptis." "Lio," it may be explained, stands for Leigh.
p. 21. " Gramen exile vicinorum maris agg frum, numcrosca gracillimorum
latiusculorum uncialium foliorum sobole. Sex miliaribus Anglo-Britannicis a Lio,
non procul ab aedibus D. Wedston oritur, digitales, unciales & sesquiunciales
emittens cauliculos, congestis Salicis maritimae minoris catulis confertos,
coryllis stipatim inter numerosa folia praeditos. Radix exiqua capillaris.
Haec supradicta exigua & teuuia maritima gramina oviaria depascitur." In
the margin How adds "Gr. exile vicinorum maris aggerum Park. pag. 1278. sine
Ic. Th. Bot. è Lob. M.S. Among his names he glories that it hath not been
remembered by any Author before.'
Parkinson's description of this grass in the Theatrum, where
he gives no figure, is as follows :—
" 6. Gramen exile vieinorum maris aggerum. A small grasse of the Sea
downes. The small Sea grasse shooteth forth divers short stalkes of two
inches long, full of small long leaves like haires, set close together, and among
them at the toppes small heads, like the catkins of the dwarfe Willow, the
root is small and threddy."
These descriptions do not enable us to identify the plant.
It might be Festuca ovina L., the Gramen capillaceum locustelis
pinnatis non aristatis of Ray's Historia Plantarum, vol. ii., p. 1288.
(1688); but this is merely a conjecture.
pp. 82-3. Brassica vulgaris arborescens Flandrica . . . . Maris incolae
Essexiae ea vescuntur ad lubricand : alvum ex jusculo pingui, Provenit etiam
toto illo tractu littoreo a Dovero, Ryam, & inde ad Vectem insulam." [Brassica
oleracea L.]
p. 90. " Limonium medium Anglicum Herbidae Colchestriensis amnis
crepidines, pelagi aeatu quandoque inundari solitae, hoc Limonio uberi pro-
ventu gliscunt." [Statice limonium L. ? Vide supra, p. 181].
p. 96. " Campanula carulea supina. Ex insula (Isle of Fowle) Anglo-
Britan. vernaculo, id est, Avium, vocat : Lincoln : praefecturae."
38 Conspectus Florae Europaea p. 801.