82 THE ESSEX NATURALIST.
Mentha gracilis [M.gentilis], found "at the edge of the River at Higham-
Hill. This I called M. vegeta before Sole published it as M. gracilis."
Myagrum sativum [Camelina sativa], "one specimen found this day
amongst corn in the Church Common-field, Walthamstow, in fl. and pod,
22 June 1805."
Iberis nudicaulis [Teesdalea nudicaulis], "found this day 25 May
1804 on the Flat of the Forest, between Wansted and the Ilford Road
not far from opposite the road which leads to East-ham, found a great
many plants. Some in flower and some stems with pods." Forster
adds: "I looked for it 25 April 1825 but did not find it.".
On the other hand, Forster deletes Warner's record of Alcea
(sic) vulgaris, which he stigmatises as "a mistake for ye
M[alva]moschata," the Musk Mallow, which is, he adds in MS.,
"not uncommon in meadows," and notes that this plant occurred
"in our southern field Hoe Street Aug. 1808 in Flower."
Similarly, he rejects Warner's record of Asperugo procumbens
as being "a mistake for the Lycopsis arvensis," which he notes
as growing "in the Lane leading from Angel-lane to Maryland-
point."
He comments on Warner's record of Fagus castanea [Castanea
vulgaris], the Sweet Chestnut Tree, as growing on the Forest
near Wanstead House, that these trees are "planted in rows."
Forster accuses his predecessor of an act of botanical van-
dalism in removing a rare plant from its natural habitat; he
comments upon Warner's record of the Royal Fern (Osmunda
regalis) as found on the side of a gravel-pit behind Mr. Moxon's
House, thus "This I hear was taken away by Mr. Warner"!
But the accuser is himself not above reproach in such matters,
seeing that he admits, in the case of Rhamnus frangula, that he
"brought home a shrub of it from forest between Whips-Cross and
Wanstead. Th: 7 May 1807." But Forster was not a vandal,
since in 1808 he found several plants of Ophrys spiralis [Spiran-
thes spiralis] and he adds "I took up one specimen, left believe
seven"; and again he records that he "found Sund. 4 Aug.
1799 several (about 12) plants [of the Wild Larkspur, Delphinium
ajacis] in the Common-field behind our field, i.e. the Church-
common fld.—in flower—brought home 8 for specimens." These
two rarities, it is interesting to note, are duly present, from the
exact localities described, in the Forster Herbarium at the British
Museum.
In the case of certain of Warner's local records, as Asperula
odorata, Asplenium Ceterach [Ceterach officinarum] and Scabiosa