A HISTORY OF BERKSHIRE Origanum (probably chalk ballast accounts for this calcareous loving species), Calamintha offici- nalis, Kcehria, Erigeron acre, Jasione and Serratula, while the cutting in the stiff clay near Wellington College often has on the barer portion Lycopodium inundatum, and a profuse growth ofNartkecium is not unfrequent, while the moonwort fern (Botrychium), the sweet scented moun- tain fern (Dryopteris montana), and the royal fern (Osmunda) are among the other filices which occur. The district about Loddon Bridge and Wokingham has a varied flora, as one might expect from the different soils which occur. In rapid succession come the alluvial meadows of the Thames, the gravelly soil near Early and Reading, the clayey ground about Ruscombe, the sandy soil near Bearwood, and the gravels of Twyford, Wokingham and Hurst. From Swallowfield to Twyford the Loddon flows through pleasant and more highly cultivated country, passing in one of its reaches through the ' verdant alders,' where it is fringed with the beautiful snowflake (Leucojum astivum). Loddon lilies is the local name, and it has the privilege in another portion to yield one of the few endemic species which the British Flora includes, for in abundance grows a pondweed which in my Berkshire Flora I called with some doubt Potamogeton fluitans, or a hybrid species, but which subsequent research and culture has proved to be a new species which Mr. A. Fryer has described and also beautifully figured in his Monograph of the British Potamogetons under the name P. Drucei. P. alpinus also occurs in the same stream, and Carex data grows in one of the marshes on its borders. Carex elongata is in the vicinity and Pulicaria vulgaris, Polygonum minus, P, mite, Carex axillaris, C. Pseudo-cyperus, C. vesicaria, Dipsacus pilosus, and Echinodorus ranunculoides are found. Rosa systyla and R. obtusifolia are not uncommon, and on the dry gravelly soils we have Trifolium subterraneum, T. striatum, Arabis perfoliata, Dianthus Armeria and Potentilla argentea, and Geranium lucidum, Ft/ago apiculata and Cynoglossum are also found. The Bearwood district affords Epipactis latifolia, many brambles including R. nitidus, R. incurvatus, R. car- pinifolius, R. rudis, R. Lejeunei, Scirpus fluitam, Chrysanthemum Parthenium (and it may be native here), Apium inundatum and many other species. The creeping jenny (Lysimachia Nummularia) was found fruiting by Mr. Broome and myself near Hurst in 1900; the capsule is very similar to that of L. nemorum ; it has not, that I am aware of, been found in that con- dition before in Britain. Near Shottesbrooke and elsewhere in the neighbourhood (Enanthe Phellandrium occurs in the ponds, and a scarce grass, Alopecurus fulvus, is locally common. One of the small streams which run into the Loddon is called the Ermine brook ; it rises on the north-eastern side of Easthampstead Plain and drains the interesting earthwork known as Caesar's Camp with its distinct double vallum now overgrown with whortleberry. From the summit a fine view is to be obtained as far as the chalk hills of Oxfordshire over, in the near distance, a beautifully mingled foliage of birch, chestnut, oak, beech, larch and pine. The Broadwater drains the hilly and heathy district of Bracknell. In Easthampstead Park Samolus grows, and the Swinley oaks are very fine ; under them I have found the pill wort (Ranunculus Ficaria) fruiting freely, and in the neighbourhood Lepidium Smithii, or as it is now called L. heterophyllum var. canescens, is found. Other parts have a rich bog flora similar to that of the Sandhurst neighbourhood, but as the stream leaves the Bagshot sands it passes into the flat tract of the London clay, through which it winds in a very devious course through country which is so low and flat that the waters formerly inun- dated the country round for a considerable distance, the stream being then more worthy of its name and appearing on the map as Ruscombe Lake. The numerous ponds and the deep ditches by the roadsides are evidences of the former marshy condition of the country, which at one time was the habitat of Damasonium Alisma. Next to be briefly described is the portion of the county drained by the main stream of the Thames between Reading and Maidenhead, and it has both a rich flora and lovely scenery, the highest ground in the Loddon district being found in it. About Wargrave and Twyford we have the great dodder (Cuscuta europtea), the Loddon lilies (Leucojum), the mint (Mentha longifilia), the white mullein (Verbascum Lychnitis), the lettuce (Lactuca virosa), the cress (Lepidium Smithii), and the small teasel (Dipsacus pilosus). The range of chalk hills by the river afford, or have afforded, the orchids Orchis militaris, Epipactis violacea, Neottia, Gyrostachis autumnalis, Ophrys muscifera and Aranifera, besides atropa Bella- donna, Helleborus fcetidus, Monotropa, Daphne Mezereum and Linaria repens. The arable fields here afford Bromus interruptus, Alyssum calycinum, Iberis amara, etc.; and the meadows are often crimson with the abundance of Pedicularis palustris. The river itself yields Lim- nanthemum, Acorus and Typha angustifolia, its ditches give Hottonia and Hydrocharis, while its 60
