32 The Presidential Address.
spuria),70 and Venus' Comb (Scandix pecten-veneris),71 some of
which are wild in Italy, whilst others they had themselves
derived from the countries that fed the granaries of Borne.
It is somewhat interesting that a species of Nettle still
bears the name of Roman Nettle (Urtica pilulifera), and
haunts among other places the neighbourhood of Caesar's
landing, in connection with which we have a 17th century
tradition72 that the Roman soldiers sowed it that they might
use it to beat their chilblains, having heard before coming of
the rigours of the English climate.
The Britons no doubt lost much of their culture on
the withdrawal of the Romans,73 nor is it likely that the
English invaders introduced many new plants either in-
tentionally or by accident. Their place-names, however, tell
us much of the trees, animals, and general character of our
county at the time. Thurrock and Oakley tell of the Oak,
Bromley and Broomfield of the Broom, Maplestead, Elm-
stead, and Aldersbrook of three other trees ; whilst Brox-
bourne and Broxted tell of the Badger, Boreham of Wild
Swine, Cranham of Cranes, and the many bourns, fords,
mers, marshes, wells, holts, and woods of the character of the
country on their arrival. In the words of Professor Stubbs
(loc. cit.) the "vast forests and unreclaimed marsh lands
afforded to the new comers a comparatively easy conquest,
and the means of reproducing at liberty on new grounds the
institutions under which they had lived at home." No doubt
many of the Roman improvements had been neutralised by
a period of anarchy, and the English soon showed their love
of rural life in the numerous "townships," or "hams" with
the meadows and other inclosures, "leys," "ings," and
70 "Seulement dans les terrains de champs en Angleterre, deja a
1'epoque de Gerarde. L'espeee est indiquee quelquefois en Italie, hors
des cultures, par exemple a Rome sur les bords du Tibre et dans les
montagnes."—Ibid., p. 676.
71 From Sicily.—Ibid., p. 666.
72 John Parkinson, 'Theatrum Botanicum' (1643), p. 441.
73 For example, large tracts reclaimed from the sea were again aban-
doned to the waves. See Pearson, op. cit., p. 4. Stubbs (now Bishop of
Chester) 'Select Charters,' 1870, p. 1.