THE FLORA OF WANSTEAD PARK DISTRICT. 125
most striking of these was a Groundsel, Senecio viscosus, growing
eighteen inches or more high and forming a grove covering many
square yards, very conspicuous when the white balls of pappus
had expanded ; this plant which forty years ago was rather
uncommon in our neighbourhood is now extremely abundant;
The Fiddle Dock, Rumex pulchra, with its zigzag stem, is also a
casual here.
B. Bush Wood.
This is bounded on the east by Blake Hall Road, and
extends on the west nearly to the Green Man Pond, south to the
further end of "The Avenues" and north to the gardens on the
south side of Woodcote Road. It takes its name from the
"Bush" Inn, which formerly stood close to the west or "Bush"
gate of Wanstead Park. From the point of view of timber this
is the most interesting of our sections since it contains avenues
of Lime and Spanish Chestnut which must have been planted
by the Childs in the eighteenth century or earlier ; it also possesses
a group of fine unpollarded Hornbeams. We owe their preserva-
tion to the foresight and generosity of a former inhabitant of
Leytonstone, William Davis. He lived in the road which still
bears his name, "Davis' Lane," stretching from "The Elms"
public-house on the High Road to near the Forest. When in
1823 Wanstead House was pulled down and most of the trees
on the estate were being felled to help defray the enormous
debts of the owner, the Hon. Wellesley Pole, Davis purchased the
trees of Bush Wood and presented them to the public ; he
realised even then how, by the growth of London, such woodland
would prove to be of ever-increasing value.
Much of the elaborate system of avenues shown on Rocque's
map remains at the present day. The trees of a long double row
of Limes running in a south-westerly direction, are becoming
bare at the top and are stag-headed ; they have thrown out stools
of shoots around their bases, and their trunks are bark-bound,
so that they no longer increase perceptibly in girth. West of
the lime avenues are still to be seen some of the raised walks
bordered by Spanish Chestnuts, which must have been a
striking feature in the old days. The largest and most westerly
of these Chestnuts is 18 feet 9 inches in girth (at 5 feet from the