A HISTORY OF RUTLAND Eye Brook, and on the south-east the River Welland forms the boundary between Rutland and Northamptonshire. The three botanical divisions are as follows : — District A, including the southern portion of the county, which is cut off by the River Chater. District B, forming the mid portion, bounded on the north by the River Wash, and on the south by the River Chater. District C, comprising the northern and larger half of the county, bounded on the south by the River Wash, on the west and north-west by Leicestershire, and on the east and north-east by Lincolnshire. There are cases in which it is not well to disclose too exactly the habitats of certain plants, except where such information is not likely to be abused, or to result in the ruthless destruction of the rarer species. Only in 31 out of 112 of the 'Vice-Counties' into which Mr. Watson (see below) has divided England, Wales, and Scotland does the Gagea lutea flourish. It has been one of the small boasts of Rutland. There was a brilliant patch of the yellow flowers to be seen every May in Stoke (Dry) Wood. In 1864 the deep-rooted bulbs blossomed as freely as ever. Next year they were gone, evi- dently not perished, but the prey of an enthusiastic botanist. The plant still, however, flourishes in another part of the county. Would that this were our only loss ! Time was when white violets could be plucked before houses merged into country along the Stocker- ston Road in Uppingham. The little stream which flowed by has gone, and with it the violets. Many woods had the oxlip, which now are bare of them. Places where henbane and the Adoxa moschatellina grew know them no more. The bog plants round Empingham are dis- appearing. Plants (of which more later on) mentioned in The Beauties of England and Wales (county Rutland), of the date 18 13, are no more to be found. In naming flowers the local names will be mentioned as well as the botanical names. There are many reasons why this is useful. The readers of this article will not all be experienced and learned botanists. Even botanists may have a preference for the common names of flowers except in a purely scientific treatise. I have made a careful analysis of Mr. H. C. Watson's Topographical Botany, and arrived at results very interesting for the purpose of this article. Unfortunately Mr. Watson has linked Leicestershire and Rut- land in one category. His lists only contain those flowers which are indigenous to the island, and, therefore, such plants as Urtica pilulifera or pileatifera (Roman Nettle), and Aristolochia Clematitis (Birthwort), both of which are to be found in Rutland, though, especially the second, under doubtful conditions of natural life, he does not include in his enumeration. I have marked down every plant that he gives as growing in Leicestershire (with Rutland), Northamptonshire, or South Lincoln- shire. A plant which is so common to Great Britain that Mr. Watson 20
