Page:VCH Buckinghamshire 1.djvu/104

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A HISTORY OF BUCKINGHAMSHIRE

Gibbon in the Thame district. R. obtusifolia occurs in the Thames and Colne districts, and on the chalk escarpment both in the Ouzel and Thame drainage, and it grows at Lillingstone in the Ouse district, and the var. tomentella is also found.

R. canima as lutetiana is the commonest and most generally distributed form, and the var. Andegavensis occurs at Chalfont, etc. Another widely distributed and common rose is R. dumalis, the R. sarmentacea of Forster. R. dumetorum and the var. urbica is also widely spread. R. verticillacantha is local, but it occurs at Marsh Gibbon and Chalfont. R. Deseglisei is found at Beaconsfield, R.glauca grows near Brill, and the var. subcristata at Swanbourne, but these sub-erect plants are very rare in the south of England. R. stylosa is very local in the north of the county, but there are some fine bushes about Brill; but near Beaconsfield and in the country towards Penn and Chalfont it is very common, and some large plants are also to be seen between Lane End and Medmenham. R. arvensis is a very common rose on clay, and is especially frequent in woods on stiff soils. The downy-leaved rose (R. mollissima, Willd., the R. tomentosa, Sm.) is not unfrequent in dry soils in hilly districts, as at Brickhill, and more frequently on the southern slopes of the chalk where the var. subglobosa, Sm., var. scabriuscula (Sm.) and var. syfoestris (Lindl.) have been noticed. At present I have no authentic record of R. villosa, L., the R. mollis, Sm., in the county.

THE MOSSES (Musci)

The moss flora of Buckinghamshire is but very imperfectly known, but it is probably much richer than Oxfordshire, since the Brickhill district certainly yields a large number of species. The woods of Penn, and the neighbourhood of Dropmore, Burnham Beeches, Stoke Common, Fulmer, Black Park, Gerrard's Cross, the wet woods near Tilehouse Denham, are all places which would well repay the bryologist for exploring.

For the following notes I am especially indebted to Mr. E. M. Holmes, F.L.S., who is a native of the county, being born at Wendover, and Mr. John Benbow of Uxbridge, who has done so much in exploring the botany of the county of Middlesex.

Sphagnum rubellum, Wils. Burnham Common
—— acutifolium, Russ. & Warnst., var. pallescens. Burnham
—— recurvum, Russ. & Warnst., var. amblyphyllum. Burnham Common
—— rufescens, Warnst. Little Brickhill
—— cymbifolium, Warnst., var. glaucescens. Little Brickhill

var. pallescens, Warnst. Burnham Common
—— papillosum Lindb., var., normale, Warnst. and var. sublaeve, Limpr. Burnham
—— Catharinea undulata, Web. & Mohr. Buckingham (E.M.H.); Shalbourn, Great Brickhill, Brill, etc.
Polytrichum nanum, Neck. Buckingham (E.M.H.); Naphill
——aloides, Hedw. Buckingham (E.M.H); Brickhill, Stoke Pages
——formosum, Hedw. Buckingham (E.M.H.); Brickhill, Beaconsfield
——commune, L. Buckingham (E.M.H.);
Archidium alternifolium, Schimp. Tring
Ditrichum flexicaule, Hampe. Buckingham (E.M.H.)

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