THE BOTANY.—THE FLOWERING PLANTS AND FERNS.
[Illustration: Barrow’s Moor Wood.]
Closely connected with the geology of the Forest are its flowers. And
though mere geology could not tell us the whole Flora of a district, yet
we might always be able, by its help and that of the latitude, to give
the typical plants. Close to the chalk, the Forest possesses none of the
chalk flowers. No bee-orchis or its congeners, although so common on all
the neighbouring Wiltshire downs, bloom. No travellers’-joy trails
amongst its thickets, although every hedge in Dorsetshire, just across
the Avon, is clothed in the autumn with its white fleece of seeds. No
yellow bird’s-nest (_Monotropa Hypopitys_) shades itself under its
beeches, though growing only a few miles distant on the chalk.
Still, here there are some contradictions. The chalk-loving yew appears
to be indigenous. Several plants which we might reasonably expect, as
herb-Paris, the bird-nest orchis (_Neottia Nidus-avis_), and the common
mezereon (_Daphne Mezereum_), are wanting.
Owing to the want of stiff clay, no hornbeams grow in its woods, except,
perhaps, a few in one or two cold “bottoms.” No Solomon’s seal or lilies
of the valley whiten its dells. No meadow-geranium waves its blue
flowers on the banks of the Avon.[278]
On the other hand, the plants too truly tell the character of the soil.
In the spring the little tormentil shows its bright blossoms, and the
petty-whin grows side by side with the furze, and the sweet mock-myrtle
throws its shadow over the streams. In the summer and autumn the blue
sheep’s-bit scabious and the golden-rod bloom, with the three heathers.
In the bogs the round-leaved sundew is pearled with wet, and not far
from it the cotton-grass waves its white down, and the asphodel rears
its golden spike.
These are the commonest flowers of the Forest, and grow everywhere over
its moors. In its dykes and marshes, the common frog-bit and the
marsh-pimpernel spring up in every direction. The buckbean, too,
brightens every pool on the south side, and is so common near the Avon
that many of the fields are called “the buckbean mead,” whilst in the
northern parts it is known as “the fringed water-lily.”
Very rich is the Forest in all these bog-plants. In Hinchelsea and
Wilverley Bottoms grow the water-pimpernel (_Samolus Valerandi_), the
lesser bladder-wort, and the bur-reed (_Sparganium natans_) floating on
the water. Here, too, perhaps, the easternmost station known for it,
blossoms the butterwort (_Pinguicula Lusitanica_), with its pale
delicate flowers. In the autumn, also, the open turf grounds round
Wootton are blue with the Calathian violet (_Gentiana Pneumonanthe_);
whilst its little bright congener (_Cicendia filiformis_) blossoms in
all the damp places.
Owing, also, to the presence of iron, the Forest possesses no less than
seventeen or eighteen carices. The little thyme-leaved flax, too
(_Radiola millegrana_), grows in all the moist, sandy dells.
From this general view it will be seen that the true Forest plants are
not so much “sylvestral” as “ericetal,” and “paludal,” and “uliginal.”
Besides these groups, however, the Flora of the district further divides
itself into the “littoral plants” along the sea-shores and estuaries,
and the “pascual” flowers of the valley of the Avon. In the former
division, owing to the want of rocks, no _Statice spathulata_ grows on
its sea-board. No true samphire (_Crithmum maritimum_) blossoms. The
beautiful maiden’s-hair fern, once so plentiful on the neighbouring
coast of the Isle of Wight, is also from the same cause wanting.
Still, great beauty blooms on the Forest streams and shores. In the
latter part of the summer, the mudbanks of the Beaulieu river are
perfectly purple with the sea-aster, whilst the sea-lavender waves its
bright blue crest among the reed-beds washed over by every tide.
The valley of the Avon is characterized, as may be expected, by the
commoner species, which are to be found in such situations. Here, and in
the adjoining cultivated parts, which once were more or less a part of
the Forest, we find the soap-wort (_Saponaria officinalis_) and the
thorn-apple (_Datura Stramonium_), and those colonists which always
harbour close to the dwellings of man. Other considerations remain. The
situation and climate of the New Forest, of course, have a great effect
on its plants.[279] The two myrtles and the sweet-bay grow under the
cliffs of Eagleshurst, close to the Solent, unhurt by the hardest
frosts. The grapes ripen on the cottage-walls of Beaulieu nearly as
early as in Devonshire. I have seen the coltsfoot in full blossom, near
Hythe, on the 27th of February; and the blackthorn flowers at Wootton on
the 3rd of April.
The area of the New Forest comes under Watson’s Subprovince of the
Mid-Channel, on the Southern belt of his Inferagrarian zone. Its
position lies exactly half-way between his Germanic and Atlantic types.
The former shows itself by _Dianthus Armeria_, and _Pulicaria vulgaris_,
growing near Marchwood and Bisterne. The latter by such examples as
_Cotyledon_ _umbilicus_, _Pinguicula Lusitanica_, _Briza minor_, and
_Agrostis setacea_. The “British” and “English” types are, of course,
plentifully represented.[280]
Looking, too, at the trees and shrubs which are indigenous, we shall
find them also eminently characteristic. In spite of what Cæsar says,
the beech is certainly a native, pushing out in places even the oak. The
holly, too, grows everywhere in massy clumps. In the spring, the wild
crab (_Pyrus Malus_) crimsons the thickets of Brockenhurst, in the
autumn the maple. The butcher’s broom stands at the foot of each beech,
and the ivy twines its great coil round each oak, and the mistletoe
finds its home on the white poplar.
After all, the trees, and not the flowers, give its character to the New
Forest. In the spring, all its woods are dappled with lights and shades,
with the amber of the oak and the delicate soft-gleaming green of the
birch and beech. In the autumn, the spindle-tree (_Euonymus Europæus_)
in the Wootton copses is hung with its rosy gems; and the trenches of
Castle Malwood are strewed with the silver leaves of the white-beam.
To return, however, to the plants, let us notice how some particular
families seem especially to like the light gravelly soil of the Forest
district. Take, for instance, the St. John’s-worts, of which we have no
less than six, if not more varieties. The common perforated (_Hypericum
perforatum_) shines on every dry heath, and the square-stalked
(_quadrangulum_) in all the damp boggy places. The tutsan (_Androsæmum_)
is so common round Wootton that it is known to all the children as
“touchen leaves,” evidently only a corruption of its name; and its
berries are believed throughout the Forest to be stained with the blood
of the Danes. The rarer large-flowered (_calycinum_) grows, though not,
I am afraid, truly wild, in some of the thickets round Sway. In all the
ponds, the marsh (_elodes_) springs up, whilst the creeping
(_humifusum_) trails its blossoms over the turf of the Forest lanes, and
the small (_pulchrum_) shows its orange-tipped flowers amongst the
brambles and bushes.
Take, again, the large family of the ferns, of which seventeen species
are distributed throughout the Forest. First and foremost, of course,
stands the royal fern (_Osmunda regalis_), which may be found from the
sea-board to Fordingbridge, rearing its stem in some places six feet
high, and covering in patches on the southern border, as at Beckley,
nearly a quarter of an acre. It grows in Chewton Glen, in all the lanes
in the neighbourhood, on Ashley Common, close to the Osmanby Ford River,
and rears its golden-brown pannicles in the boggy thickets near Rufus’s
Stone. But before it, in beauty, stands the lady-fern, with its delicate
fronds and its tender green, growing in the open spaces of the beech
woods, as at Stonehard and Puckpits, and bending over the Forest streams
in large leafy clumps. Then, too, in all the large woods grows the
sweet-scented mountain fern (_Lastrea Oreopteris_); and on every bank
the hart’s-tongue spreads its broad ribbon-like leaves, and the fertile
fronds of the hard-fern spring up feathery and light, whilst from the
old oaks the common polypody droops with its dark green tresses. The
common maiden-hair (_Asplenium Trichomanes_), too, hangs on the walls
and Forest banks; and on Alice Lisle’s tomb, at Ellingham, the
rue-leaved spleenwort is green throughout the whole year. On Breamore
churchyard wall and Ringwood bridges grows the common scale-fern, whilst
in the meadows of the Avon springs the adder’s-tongue’s green spear.
Nor must we forget the brake, common though it be, for this it is which
gives the Forest so much of its character, clothing it with green in the
spring; and when the heather is withered, and the furze, too, decayed,
making every holt and hollow golden.[281]
And now for some other plants, without reference to their species, but
simply to their beauty. On Ashley Common and the neighbouring
grass-fields grows the moth-mullein (_Verbascum Blattaria_), dropping
its yellow flowers, as they one by one expand. In the neighbouring
pools, as far as Wootton, the blossoms of the great spearwort
(_Ranunculus Lingua_) gleam among the reeds. There, also, the
narrow-leaved lungwort (_Pulmonaria angustifolia_), with its leaves both
plain and spotted, opens its blue and crimson flowers so bright, that
they are known to all the children as the “snake flower,” and gathered
by handfuls mixed with the spotted orchis. And the ladies’ tresses, too
(_Spiranthes autumnalis_), shows its delicate brown braid on every dry
field on the southern border.
Besides these, the feathered pink (_Dianthus plumarius_) blooms on the
cloister-walls at Beaulieu; and the Deptford pink (_Dianthus Armeria_)
in the valley of the Avon at Hucklebrook, near Ibbesley. The
bastard-balm (_Melittis Melissophyllum_) flaunts its white and purple
blossoms over the banks of Wootton plantation, whilst at Oakley and
Knyghtwood the red gladiolus crimsons the green beds of fern.
Briefly, let me say that, as is the Forest soil, so are its plants.
Nature ever makes some compensations. The barrenest places she ever
clothes with beauty. If corn will not grow, she will give man something
better. In the great woods the columbines and tutsan shine in the spring
with their blue and yellow blossoms, and the wood-sorrel nestles its
white flowers among the mossy roots of the oaks. In the more open spaces
the foxgloves overtop the brake, and in the grassy spots the eyebright
waves its white-grey crest; and not far off are sure to gleam faint
crimson patches of the marsh-pimpernel, half hid in moss; whilst the
swamps are fringed with the coral of the sundew.
[Illustration: The King’s Gairn Brook (Another View).]