230 NOTES ON CERTAIN PLANTS IN WANSTEAD PARK.
by the mud deposit. Some plants grew in such extraordinary
profusion that it seems to me certain that their seeds have been
lying for a number of years dormant at the bottom of the lake
This was the theory that I had set myself to prove, and if not
proven it is at least more than likely. To any one who attempted
to wade breast high through the mass of Polygonum ("sorrel")
growing there, it must seem almost certain that an accumulation
of seeds gave rise to the unusual luxuriance of growth. Almost
equally profuse were the more lowly growing Ranunculus
sceleratus and the 'Radicata palustris. A second line of argument
was the occasional presence of plants which I know are still
to be found in the immediate neighbourhood of the Park : (namely,
round the lake of the Wanstead Golf Ground), but which have-
not in recent years been discoverable in the Wanstead Park
itself—such as Alisma plantago, Juncus bufonius and Bidens
tripartita. A third line of argument was the occasional-presence
of plants which I have never yet found even in the more secluded
Wanstead Golf Ground—such as Myosoton aquaticum (better
known as Stellaria aquatica, the Great Water-chickweed). This
plant I have not myself met with in Essex before, and it is cer-
tainly rare in this neighbourhood; but on these mud stretches
it is in abundance. Veronica anagallis and the gigantic Angelica
sylvestris. The cumulative force of these three lines of argu-
ments—
(1) Extraordinary profusion of certain plants ;
(3) Presence of plants hitherto in recent years unknown in
the Park, though known to exist close to it ;
(3) Presence of plants unknown in the neighbourhood—
certainly seems to point to a time when the flora of the margin
of the Wanstead Park Lake was much richer than now, and to
the fact that such flora has been lying dormant in living seeds,
and has sprung into life when the chance presented itself.
I may add that Mr. McKenzie, the Superintendent of Epping
Forest, is of the same opinion. "I am sure," he says, "your
theory is correct, and that these seeds have been in the mud for
years.".
ANALYSIS OF SOME OF THE PLANTS FOUND IN
WANSTEAD PARK,
Class A. Perhaps originating through the medium of the Herons:—
Rumex maritimus'.; Aster tripolium ; (?) Potentilla norvegica.