22
The Presidential Address.
lavis), the Marsh Cinquefoil (Comarum), and St. John's-Wort
(Hypericum elodes), the Grass of Parnassus (Parnassia), the
Ragged Robin (Lychnis flos-cuculi), Mints, Ragwort (Senecio
aquaticus), Fleabane (Pulicaria dysenterica), Willow-herbs
(Epilobium), Loosestrifes (Lysimachia vulgaris, L. nummularia,
and L. nemorum), Rushes and Sedges, would then have
flourished far more than at present.
The aquatic plants I need not enumerate, seeing that with
the exception of the American water-weed (Elodea canadensis),
man does not seem to have added one to the list, though
possibly, in clearing rivers for navigation, he may have
exterminated some, such as the Pillwort (Pilularia) and
Moonwort (Botrychium), two interesting forms among the
higher Cryptogams, of which the former grew in Henhault
Forest in Forster's time,28 and the latter near Colchester in
that of Gerard.29
One plant which now grows in meadows liable to floods
I must mention, since my experience of it leads me to differ
from the authority of DeCandolle,30 viz., the Fritillary, or
Snake-lily (Fritillaria meleagris). Gibson records it31 as in
process of extermination at Bumpsted, being transplanted
into gardens; but it is never mentioned as a native by our
older botanists, it has no old English name, it is beyond its
continental range, and is limited to a few river-valleys, down
which it spreads readily. The only locality I know for the
species in the valley of the Severn is represented only by the
white variety, and this and kindredly suspicious circum-
28 "In Hog-hill Pond on Henhault Forest." Edward Forster, MS.
note in 'Botanist's Guide.'
29 "Lunaria minor. Small Moonewoort. . . . It groweth also in the
raines of an olde bricke kill by Colchester, in the grounde of master
George Sayer, called Miles ende."—'Herball' (1597), p. 329.
30 Op. cit., p. 693. "Jepenehe pour l'opinion du docteur Bromfield,
qui ne voit pas de motifs suffisants pour nier la qualite indigtne de cette
plante..... Elle manque a la Normandie .... aux environs de.
Paris .... aux iles de la Manche .... et a l'lrlande. Je ne puis rien
dire pour Bretagne, mais on retrouve l'espece dans la Loire-Inferieure.
.... L'Angleterre serait l'extreme limits a l'ouest, et la plante y serait
naturellement plus rare qu'ailleurs, comme toute espece sur sa limite."
31 'Flora of Essex,' p. 316,