BOTANY Turning from these plants to those constituents of the county flora which most arrest the eye, the abundance of the oak and Enghsh elm deserves the first mention. Both of these have been termed ' Herefordshire weeds.' The predominance of the oak (in both its forms pedunculata and sessilijiora and their intermediates) is very marked in the woodlands. Numerous ancient oaks still exist in some of the Herefordshire parks, among which Moccas Park, the seat of the Rev. Sir George Cornewall, bart., deserves especial mention. The most remarkable individual trees and their measurements have been carefully recorded in the Transactions of the Woolhope Naturalists' Field Club. On the other hand the English elm {Ulmus campestris) takes an equally prominent position in the hedgerows of the cultivated parts and in alluvial lands. In rich soil it reaches a large size, and its timber is said to contrast favourably with that of the elm of the Thames valley. The mistletoe {Viscum album) is a well-known feature of Herefordshire, and it becomes especially conspicuous in winter with its evergreen habit and crowded white berries loading neglected apple trees and poplars (Populus monilifera), which being deciduous show the parasite to advantage. These are of course not the only trees on which it occurs : about thirty-three species of trees and shrubs are at present known upon which the mistletoe has appeared spontaneously in Herefordshire : and seven or eight mistletoe- bearing oaks, once accounted great rarities, are known in the county. Another plant deserving special mention in connexion with Hereford- shire is the beautiful water crowfoot {Ranunculus Jluitans). This plant is so abundant to the exclusion of every other species of the genus in the shallows of the Wye throughout its course in the county, that it makes the river during favourable seasons at midsummer a veritable water garden. The monk's-hood [Aconitum Napellus) was first detected as a native of Britain in this county at Little Hereford on the Shropshire border. It is now known to occupy the bushy banks of streams at many stations both in Herefordshire and Monmouthshire and can claim to be a truly native plant. The rare wild pear ( Pyrus cordatd) is undoubtedly native in this county. It has been detected in the woods near Ross, at the Dowards, and in those of the Woolhope district. Great interest attaches to the caraway (Carum Carvi) in Herefordshire. This plant occupies old pasture lands in the Woolhope and Sellers Hope district. The writer after a careful investigation became convinced that the caraway is a native in this district. The remarkable form of marjoram {Origanum) called megastachyum which was first detected by Rev. W. H. Purchas at Kinsham in this county occurs in many other stations both in the north and south of the county and in West Gloucestershire. There is no reason to doubt its indigenous character. The caper spurge {Euphorbia Lathyris) is abundant over a limited area in an old limestone wood on the lower Wye, and has strong claims to be considered native at this station. Epipogum aphyllum is well known as one of the rarest of British orchids. Discovered in 1854 on the north-east borders of the county this remained the sole record in Britain until 1876 when it was found near Ludlow, also on the borders of the county but in Shropshire. The snowdrop {Galanthus nivalis) has strong claims to be considered I 41 6
