SELBORNE, _July_ 3_rd_, 1778.
Dear Sir,--In a district so diversified with such a variety of hill and
dale, aspects, and soils, it is no wonder that great choice of plants
should be found. Chalks, clays, sands, sheep-walks and downs, bogs,
heaths, woodlands, and champaign fields, cannot but furnish an ample
Flora. The deep rocky lanes abound with _filices_, and the pastures and
moist woods with _fungi_. If in any branch of botany we may seem to be
wanting, it must be in the large aquatic plants, which are not to be
expected on a spot far removed from rivers, and lying up amidst the hill
country at the spring heads. To enumerate all the plants that have been
discovered within our limits would be a needless work; but a short list
of the more rare, and the spots where they are to be found, may be
neither unacceptable nor unentertaining:--
_Helleborus foetidus_, stinking hellebore, bear's foot, or
setterworth,--all over the High Wood and Coneycroft Hanger: this
continues a great branching-plant the winter through, blossoming about
January, and is very ornamental in shady walks and shrubberies. The good
women give the leaves powdered to children troubled with worms; but it is
a violent remedy, and ought to be administered with caution.
_Helleborus viridis_, green hellebore,--in the deep stony lane on the
left hand just before the turning to Norton Farm, and at the top of
Middle Dorton under the hedge: this plant dies down to the ground early
in autumn, and springs again about February, flowering almost as soon as
it appears above the ground.
_Vaccinium oxycoccos_, creeping bilberries, or cranberries,--in the bogs
of Bin's Pond.
_Vaccinium myrtillus_, whortle, or bleaberries--on the dry hillocks of
Wolmer Forest.
_Drosera rotundifolia_, round-leaved sundew--in the bogs of Bin's Pond.
_Drosera longifolia_, long-leaved sundew--in the bogs of Bin's Pond.
_Comarum palustre_, purple comarum, or marsh cinquefoil--in the bogs of
Bin's Pond.
_Hypericum androsoemum_, Tutsan, St. John's Wort--in the stony, hollow
lanes.
_Vinca minor_, less periwinkle--in Selborne Hanger and Shrub Wood.
_Monotropa hypopithys_, yellow monotropa, or birds' nest--in Selborne
Hanger under the shady beeches, to whose roots it seems to be
parasitical, at the north-west end of the Hanger.
_Chlora perfoliata_, _Blackstonia perfoliata_, _Hudsoni_, perfoliated
yellow-wort--on the banks in the King's Field.
_Paris quadrifolia_, herb of Paris, true-love, or oneberry--in the Church
Litten Coppice.
_Chrysosplenium oppositifolium_, opposite golden saxifrage--in the dark
and rocky hollow lanes.
_Gentiana amarella_, autumnal gentian or fellwort--on the Zigzag and
Hanger.
_Lathraea squamaria_, tooth-wort--in the Church Litten Coppice under some
hazels near the foot-bridge, in Trimming's garden hedge, and on the dry
wall opposite Grange Yard.
_Dipsacus pilosus_, small teasel--in the Short and Long Lith.
_Lathyrus sylvestris_, narrow-leaved, or wild lathyrus--in the bushes at
the foot of the Short Lith, near the path.
_Ophrys spiralis_, ladies' traces--in the Long Lith, and towards the
south corner of the common.
_Ophrys nidus avis_, birds' nest ophrys--in the Long Lith under the shady
beeches among the dead leaves; in Great Dorton among the bushes, and on
the Hanger plentifully.
_Serapias latifolia_, helleborine--in the High Wood under the shady
beeches.
_Daphne laureola_, spurge laurel--in Selborne Hanger and the High Wood.
_Daphne mezereum_, the mezereon--in Selborne Hanger among the shrubs, at
the south-east end above the cottages.
_Lycoperdon tuber_, truffles--in the Hanger and High Wood.
_Sambucus ebulus_, dwarf elder, walwort, or danewort--among the rubbish
and ruined foundations of the Priory.
Of all the propensities of plants, none seem more strange than their
different periods of blossoming. Some produce their flowers in the
winter, or very first dawnings of spring, many when the spring is
established, some at midsummer, and some not till autumn. When we see
the _helleborus foetidus_ and _helleborus niger_ blowing at Christmas,
the _helleborus hyemalis_ in January, and the _helleborus viridis_ as
soon as ever it emerges out of the ground, we do not wonder, because they
are kindred plants that we expect should keep pace the one with the
other; but other congenerous vegetables differ so widely in their time of
flowering, that we cannot but admire. I shall only instance at present
in the _crocus sativus_, the vernal and the autumnal crocus, which have
such an affinity, that the best botanists only make them varieties of the
same genus, of which there is only one species, not being able to discern
any difference in the corolla, or in the internal structure. Yet the
vernal crocus expands its flowers by the beginning of March at farthest,
and often in very rigorous weather, and cannot be retarded but by some
violence offered; while the autumnal (the saffron) defies the influence
of the spring and summer, and will not blow till most plants begin to
fade and run to seed. This circumstance is one of the wonders of the
creation, little noticed because a common occurrence, yet ought not to be
overlooked on account of its being familiar, since it would be as
difficult to be explained as the most stupendous phenomenon in nature.
"Say, what impels, amidst surrounding snow
Congeal'd, the crocus, flamy bud to glow?
Say, what retards, amidst the summer's blaze,
Th' autumnal bulb, till pale, declining days?
The GOD OF SEASONS; whose pervading power
Controls the sun, or sheds the fleecy shower:
He bids each flower His quickening word obey,
Or to each lingering bloom enjoins delay."