THE ESSEX FIELD CLUB.
115
Mr. George Massee, F.L.S., of the Kew Herbarium, acted as the principal
Referee, assisted by many botanists, members of the Club or visitors.
The meeting was a whole-day one, and the arrangements made were similar
to those of past meetings. A very large room was set with tables for the
reception and display of the specimens collected, and books of reference and
microscopes were provided for the use of students. A four-horse brake conveyed
the visitors between Loughton Station and the collecting grounds, the first party
starting about half-past eleven.
During the day, the collectors traversed Monks Woods and the woods near
High Beach and Loughton, etc. The specimens on being taken to the Head-
quarters were determined by Mr. Massee and the other botanists present.
As in former years, the Club was pleased to welcome many members of the
Selborne Society.
High tea was served about five o'clock and then an Ordinary Meeting of the
Club (the 276th) was held, the President, Mr. T. S. Dymond, F.C.S., in the
chair.
The minutes of the meeting on July 31st were read and confirmed.
The President welcomed the members of the Selborne Society and the
other visitors, and thanked those who had assisted at the meeting.
Paper read.—Mr. Miller Christy, F.L.S., V.P., read a short paper "On
the Fruiting of the Common Elm (Ulmus ?campestris) in 1909."
Some interesting remarks upon the subject of the paper were made by Mr.
Paulson, Mr. J. C. Shenstone, Mr. Massee, and Mr. Step, and the thanks of the
Club were returned to Mr. Christy. (The paper is printed in the present part,
pages 73-81.)
Lathyrus tuberosus on Canvey Island, Essex.—Mr. Christy also exhibited
specimens of the "Fyfield Pea" from Canvey Island. In 1860, the late Mr. H.
W. King, of Leigh, Hon. Secretary of the Essex Archaeological Society,
observed the plant growing in a marsh on the island, known as "Gay Mead,"
and made some remarks upon the probable date of the introduction of the
species. Dr. B. Daydon Jackson also observed the plant there in 1870. In
1881, the Rev. M. C. H. Bird, who knew nothing of these previous records,
rediscovered the Pea in Canvey. Mr. Bird sent Mr. Christy specimens gathered
from the cornfields bordering Gay Marsh, and these he exhibited. Mr. Christy
gave some very interesting historical details of the first discoveries of the plant
an Essex. He has since enlarged these remarks, and extended their purview to
embrace all the records, whether from Essex or elsewhere, and has published
the paper in the Journal of Botany (vol. xlviii. (1910) pp. 170-177), to which
our readers are referred. On the whole evidence, Mr. Christy regards the plant
as an introduced, not as an indigenous, species.1
A discussion ensued, in which Mr. Paulson, Mr. Shenstone, Mr. W. Cole,
and the author took part. Mr. Shenstone illustrated the subject of the
introduction of alien plants by giving some particulars concerning Claytonia
perfoliata, which are embodied in a note (page 121).
1 In his paper, the author uses, as the English name of the pea, the parish where it
was first observed by the Corders, "Fyfield Pea," but Mr. Joshua Clarke, in 1860, said that
the plant had been growing on the fields for 60 years at least, and that the farmers called
it the "Tine Tare."