THE FLORA

OF THE

VALE OF BELVOIR.

AMENTACEÆ.

Alnus glutinosa, common alder; cl. 21, ord. 3. March. Betula alba, birch tree; cl. 21, ord. 6. Not very common. April, May.

Fagus castanea, sweet chesnut; cl. 21, ord. 6. In Croxton Park. May.

Carpinus betulus, common hornbeam; cl. 21, ord. 6. In hedges; but handsomer when standing by itself, and allowed to take its natural form. May.

Salix pentandra, sweet bay-leaved willow; cl. 22, ord. 1. At Eastwell, along the brook,but probably planted there. June, July.

APOCINEÆ.

Vinca minor, lesser periwinkle; cl. 5, ord. 1.

May.

At Easton.

major, greater periwinkle; cl. 5, ord. 1. At Wools

thorpe, on several walls in the street. May.

AROIDEÆ.

Acorus calamus, common sweet flag; cl. ord. 1. Not a native of the Vale, but planted in the Devon, at Muston; where, as it increases, it will be esteemed indigenous. June.

ASPARAGI.

Tamus communis, common black bryony; cl. 22, ord. 5. In tall hedges, shady thickets, groves, and woods; common. June.

BORAGINEA.

Lithospermum officinale, common groundsell; cl. 5, ord. 1. At Muston, in the road from the church towards Grantham. May.

Symphytum officinale, common comfrey; cl. 5, ord. 4. Muston, by the Devon. The roots are glutinous and mucilaginous; and a decoction of them is used by dyers to extract the colouring matter of gum lac. May, June.

САСТІ.

Ribes rubrum, common currant; cl. 5, ord. 1. Among the plantations about Belvoir: the fruit about half the common size, pleasant, but very acid.. May.

CAMPANULACEÆ.

Campanula glomerata, clustered bell-flower; cl. 5, ord. 1. About Stathern hill-side; more plentiful at Harston and Woolsthorpe. July, August.

hybrida, corn bell-flower; cl. 5, ord. 1. Sparingly

at Woolsthorpe. August.

CAPRIFOLIA.

Viburnum cantanea, mealy guelder rose; cl. 5, ord. 3. StaMay.

thern.

opulus, common guelder rose; cl. 5, ord. 3. Barkston wood. June. Sambucus ebulus, dwarf elder; cl. 5, ord. 3. stables. July.

Viscum Album, white misseltoe; cl. 22, ord. 3. trees, but not very common. May.

CARYOPHYLLEÆ.

Belvoir Castle

On apple

Linum usitatissimum, common flax; cl. 5, ord. 5.

Among

corn, at Muston, Woolsthorpe, Eastwell, &c. July.

catharticum, purging flax ; cl. 5, ord. 5. In meadows &c. This plant is bitter, and powerfully, but as it seems, not dangerously, cathartic. June-August.

Saponaria officinalis, common soap wort: cl. 10, ord. 2. In the hedges of Harby, about the town. The whole plant is bitter.

Bruised and agitated with water, it raises a lather like soap, which washes greasy spots out of clothes. A decoction from the leaves and roots is a powerful medicine used either internally or externally. July-Sept.

Silene nutans, Nottingham catch-fly; cl. 10, ord. 3. In and about Nottingham, especially about the castle, this plant is found in great abundance. It is now at Stathern from seed scattered there. June, July.

Stellaria graminea, lesser stitchwort; cl. 10, ord. 3. Three varieties in the hedges or pastures. May.

Arenaria trinervis, plantain-leaved chickweed; cl. 10, On the hills among the plantations around Belvoir Castle. June.

ord. 3. May,

A. rubra, and a variety; purple sandwort; cl. 10, ord. 3. In ploughed fields. July, August.

Cerastium semidecandrum, little mouse-ear chickweed; cl. 10, ord. 4. In old walls and dry places about Stathern. March, April.

C. arvense, field chickweed; cl. 10, ord. 4. At Woolsthorpe, May-August.

C. aquaticum, water mouse-ear chickweed; cl. 10, ord. 4. By the Devon, and in hedges about Muston. July.

Spergula arvensis et pentandra, corn spurrey; cl. 10, ord. 4. Both in the lighter grounds in the Vale. Sir James Smith had not seen a native specimen of the latter, which he considers but a slight variety of the former, the difference being chiefly in the seeds. June, July.

Moenchia erecta, upright moenchia; cl. 5, ord. 3. Upon the declivity of Belvoir hill, about the warren. An elegant little plant misplaced in Sagina. May.

CICHORACEÆ.

Tragopogon pratensis, yellow goat's-beard; cl. 19, ord. 1. pastures. June.

Lactuca virosa, strong-scented lettuce; cl. 19, ord. 1. Barkston wood. August, Sept.

Picris echioides, bristly ox-tongue; cl. 19, ord. 1. Bottesford, Muston. June, July.

CINEROCEPHALÆ.

Serratula tinctoria, common saw-wort; cl. 19, ord. 1. Stathern and Harby pastures. This plant gives a yellow colour to

wool, for which purpose Linnæus says, it is much used in Sweden. July, August.

Cnicus heterophyllus, melancholy plume-thistle; cl. 19, ord. 1. At Knipton, in the bogs. July, August.

C. eriophorus, woolly-headed plume-thistle. and all the way to Stathern, &c. August.

About Belvoir,

C. acaulis, dwarf plume-thistle; at Croxton, in the way to Skillington. July, August.

Carlina vulgaris, common Carline-thistle; cl. 19, ord. 1. About Belvoir hill, and the pastures below. This genus was named after the Emperor Charlemagne, because according to report, one of its species, C. acaulis, was pointed out to him by an angel, to cure his army of the plague. Its root is pungent, bitter, and tonic. June.

CISTI.

Cistus helianthemum, common dwarf cistus; cl. 13, ord. 1. On the banks about Croxton. July, August.

CORYMBIFEREÆ.

Bidens tripartita, three-lobed bur-marigold; cl. 19, ord. 1. In the road from Belvoir Castle to Croxton.

gust, Sept.

At Muston. Au

Tanacetum vulgare, common tansy; cl. 19, ord. 2. Hills above Barkston, Harby &c. July, August.

In

Gnaphalium dioicum, mountain cud-weed; cl. 19, ord. 2. the road from Croxton to Skillington, with a beautiful pale red flower. June, July.

G. rectum, upright cud-weed. In a hedge near Waltham, one mile from the town, on the left hand going to Grantham. August. G. uliginosum, marsh cud-weed. Common in all the Vale. August.

Erigeron acris, blue flea-bane; cl. 19, ord. 2. Sparingly beyond Langar, in the road to Nottingham. There is some degree of acrimony in the whole plant, on which account, Haller says it is given in Germany for disorders in the chest, as promoting expectoration. July, August; sometimes early in the spring.

Tussilago petasites, butter bur; cl. 19, ord. 2. Common every where. Its reputed virtues, sudorific and antipestilential; externally applied it is recommended for malignant sores, and ulcers. April.

T. hybrida, a casual variety of the former, in which the fertile, or seed-bearing organs predominate. It is very scarce in other

parts of the kingdom, but grows with the first along the banks of the Devon; and most plentifully at Knipton, and Muston.

Asted tripolium, sea-star-wort; cl. 19, ord. 2. Brought from the coast of Suffolk, and planted in the Vale of Belvoir, where though the soil is very different, it flourishes much and flowers about November. In its native soil, (muddy sea-coast, and in salt marshes) from Aug. to Sept.

Inula Helenium, Elecampane; cl. 19, ord. 2. By the side of the Devon. This plant is generally kept in rustic gardens, on account of many traditional virtues. July, August.

I. pulicaria, lesser Elecampane. Scattered about Muston, from seed brought from Gillingham, near Beccles, in Suffolk. Sept.

Achillea ptarmica, sneeze-wort yarrow; cl. 19, ord. 2. In and about Goadby and Eastwell. The whole plant has a pungent flavour, provoking a flow of saliva. The sneezing caused by the dry and powdered leaves is rather owing to their little sharp, marginal prickles. July, August.

CRUCIFERÆ.

Lepidium latifolium, broad-leaved pepper-wort; cl. 15, ord. 1. At Muston, brought from Aldborough, in Suffolk. A common Greek plant, Lepidion of Disscorides, who attributes an acrid, ulcerating quality to its leaves, and it still bears the name of Lepidi, in Attica. July.

Thlaspi arvense, penny-cress; cl. 15, ord. 1. At Stathern; seeds from Skillington. Seeds acrid, with a strong garlic flavour, which occasioned them to be used formerly as an ingredient in the Mithridate confection, an elaborate hodge-podge, now laid aside. The name of penny-cress alludes to the form and size of the seedvessels, resembling a silver penny. June, July.

Senebiera coronopus, common wart-cress; cl. 15, ord. 1. In pathways and yards. The whole is nauseously acrid and fetid. June-Sept.

Barbarea vulgaris, bitter winter-cress; cl. 15, ord. 2. MusThe whole plant is nauseously bitter, and in some degree mucilaginous. May-August.

Arabis thaliana, common wall-cress; cl. 15, ord. 2. Sandy banks. The whole plant has a warm pungent flavour, like the rest of its class. April.

Nasturtium amphibium, amphibious yellow cress; cl. 15, ord. 1. June-August.