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NOTES—ORIGINAL AND SELECTED.
(Calamintha officinalis), and the Blue Bugle—all of which I have
found during the last few years in this immediate neighbourhood.
Truly astonishing, and for the moment even stupefying, are such
sudden discoveries to one who, like myself, has roamed the fields
and woods and lanes of Essex for more than 40 years, noticing,
so far as may be, 'All things bright and beautiful, all creatures
large and small.' Not much is to be gathered from botany
books, either as to the number of British species of which these
white varieties have been recorded or as to the organic cause of
such albinism.
" If you feel inclined to grant the space, perhaps some of your
readers will inform us what plants they have noticed as showing
this tendency, and possibly some competent botanist will under-
take the task of making out a list for the whole of Essex."
Claytonia perfoliata in Essex.—Referring to Mr.
Shenstone's note in the last part of the Essex Naturalist,
I can add another locality for Clatonia perfoliata, viz :—In a lane
leading from Dedham to Manningtree, where it has occurred for
some years past in plenty, in company with Geranium lucidum
(L.).—Edwin E. Turner, Coggeshall.
The "Bitter Cress," Cardamine amara in Essex.—
Among the plants observed during a delightful country-side
walk from Hatfield to Little Baddow, on 28th May 1910, was
the somewhat-rare "Bitter Cress" (Cardamine amara), which was
found in some quantity in a small brook at Little Baddow. The
plant was long since recorded at Braintree by the celebrated
naturalist John Ray. In The New Botanist's Guide (1837), the
following Essex localities are given for it:—Copford (C. C.
Babington M.S.S.); by the River above Chelmsford (Mag Nat.
Hist.); Bog on Bentley Common, near South Weald ; and about
Braintree (Botanist's Guide Old Ed. ?). At the present time, the
plant may also be found near the Sheepen Bridge, Colchester
(J. C. Shenstone), and between Hartford End and Felstead
Mill (J. French). It is interesting to find that this somewhat-
rare plant still occurs near our Essex streams.—J. C. Shenstone,
F.L.S.
Some Interesting Plants at Ilford.—One would scarcely
expect to associate the Ilford of the present day with anything
of botanical interest, but it is a fact that one need not go