164 THE ESSEX NATURALIST
Epping Forest boundary stones.—In a recent paper it was reported
that two of the boundary stones marking the eastern boundary of the
Forest of Waltham, viz. the Warren Stone and the Collier Row Stone,
had been damaged and displaced. At the request of the Essex Field
Club I approached the authorities on the matter, and am now able to
report that both have been restored in their original positions.
I deeply appreciate the great help received from Mr. A. Qvist.
F.L.A.S., Superintendent of Epping Forest, who personally undertook the
work of restoration, and the Essex County Council, for readily accept-
ing responsibilty for the cost of this work.
E. A. Rudge, April 16th, 1959
Essex Plant Notes for 1958
BY BERNARD T. WARD
The year has proved to be of considerable note for Essex botanists.
Although we had one of the wettest seasons we can remember,
which has not made field work easy I am glad to report progress
with the proposed new Essex flora and also that a number of interesting
Essex plants have been seen. Before I deal with these I would like to
refer to the Notes for 1957 when I reported the discovery at Stratford
of the rare lesser milk vetch. Astragalus odoratus Lamarck. During a
visit to the spot Mr. Eric Saunders found there were in fact two extensive
areas covered by the plant instead of the single patch as was at first
thought. Also in the Notes for 1956 I mentioned that Cardaminopsis
arenosa (L.) Scop, had occurred on the heaps of bog ore at the
Bromley-by-Bow gas works. Through the kindness of Mr. J. Campbell
I was able to visit the spot again and found more plants. It is a member
of the Cruciferae or Cabbage family and looks rather like shepherd's
purse but with elongated seed pods. In the same place mention was made
of the crisped pondweed Lagarosiphon major (Ridley) C. E. Moss and
the possibility of its being found elsewhere in the county. This forecast
has proved correct and it has been found in a pond at Epping. Another
plant previously reported had at that time been tentatively named
Cyperus vegeta a member of the Galingale genus of the Sedge family.
It is not C. vegeta as was at first thought but is C. esculentus L., a
native of the Mediterranean region. It has many-nerved scales, blunt at
the tip and overlapping like tiles on a roof. Having cleared up some
past history let us look at some of this year's plants.
The most noteworthy discovery of the year, or rather re-discovery
was that of the autumnal squill, Scilla autumnalis L. by Mr. and Mrs.
P. Hall. The original discovery of this plant appears to have been made
by the Rev. Lightfoot in the 18th century. Lightfoot was a native of