SOME INTERESTING PLANTS OF EPPING FOREST. 165
the bushes both Burnet Saxifrage (Pimpinella Saxifraga) and
Large Burnet Saxifrage (Pimpinella major) occur, and elsewhere
there are a few plants of Pepper Saxifrage (Silaus flavescens).
On an old anthill the sweet-smelling Wild Thyme (Thymus
Serpyllum) blows, and has been appearing there for some years.
Other inhabitants of anthills are Common Speedwell (Veronica
officinalis), Yellow and Blue Scorpion Grass (Myosotis versicolor),
Heath Bedstraw (Galium saxatile) and Mouse-ear Hawkweed
(Hieracium Pilosella). A search for Veronica arvensis, which
frequents anthills elsewhere, failed to find it here in 1941, but
I found Parsley Piert (Alchemilla arvensis). Other heath-growing
plants which occur infrequently in this area are Harebell (Cam-
panula rotundifolia), Spiny Restharrow (Ononis spinosa). Devil's
Bit (Scabiosa Succisa), and Heath Groundsel (Senecio sylvaticus).
I had thought Wood Betony (Stachys Betonica) was becoming
less frequent in Forest areas, and the discovery of a few plants
in flower in this district in 1941 was encouraging.
At the brookside are two clumps of Purple Osier (Salix
purpurea), at least two bushes of Buckthorn (Rhamnus catharticus),
several of Privet (Ligustrum vulgare) and quite a nice lot of
Spindle (Euonymus europaeus). Well hidden in a thicket is a
young tree of Alder Buckthorn (Rhamnus Frangula). Close to
the stream are two specimens of the Wych Elm (Ulmus montana).
Adder's Tongue Fern (Ophioglossum vulgatum) is another plant
occurring by the Ching.
Elsewhere in Epping Forest Marsh Cinquefoil (Potentilla
palustris), a plant with a dark brown-purple flower, and Water
Avens (Geum rivale) flowered in 1940 and 1941. Both these
plants, I understand, are quite rare round about the London
area ; I know two stations for Water Avens in the Forest and
have been told of a third. Near one of the sites for Water Avens
a group of Yellow Loosestrife (Lysimachia vulgaris) grows. It
seemed to me for some years that these plants were severely cut
when they came into flower, but they had better fortune in 1941.
In another damp hollow in the Forest this Loosestrife makes a
handsome show ; the plants are much taller than the 2 to 3 ft.
mentioned in reference books and some flower stems recently
have exhibited fasciation each year. This moist area at one time
harboured a fine tall specimen of Purple Loosestrife (Lythrum
Salicaria), but this disappeared ; several plants of it flourish
elsewhere in the Forest. Bogbean (Menyanthes trifoliata) has
two or three stations still, and may have as its near neighbour
Yellow Flag (Iris Pseudacorus) or Sweet Flag (Acorus
Calamus), and with one patch of Sweet Flag formerly grew Marsh
Speedwell (Veronica scutellata), In a northern part of the Forest
Veronica montana is plentiful, and it is not unknown elsewhere.