Page:VCH Suffolk 1.djvu/91

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BOTANY Species worthy of Special Notice {Those unique in division in larger type) T'halictrum CoU'mum : Lakenheath and several other spots in the Breck district. Further examination of examples of this plant is desirable. Anemotie Pulsatilla : New- market and near Cavenham and Saxham, but no recent records. A typical chalk plant, growing only where that formation is exposed, of Watson's Germanic (or Eastern) type. Fumaria densiflora grows about Higham and Mildenhall. Sisymbriutn Irio is recorded from Bury and Gazely ; it is called London Rocket, because it sprang up plentifully after the Fire of 1666, although known in that neighbourhood before that date. Reported from about a dozen counties, but it is perhaps sporadic except about Berwick, Dublin, and in the Channel Isles.] Polygala serpyllacea, var. ciliata, grows at Elveden and Knettishall, a scarce form only occurring elsewhere in Cambridgeshire and Sussex. Diatlthus deltoides : Many localities in the Breck district. Silene Otltes, a dioecious generally wind- fertilized plant (unusual in Si/ene), occurs in many spots in the Breck district and on Newmarket Heath, where it was first recorded for England in 1650. Known only from Suffolk, Norfolk, and Cambridgeshire. S. conica^ of Watson's Germanic type, has its head quarters in the county in the Breck district, but also occurs in Division III. Holosteum umhellatum is an interesting species (Germanic) that grows (or grew) upon old walls and thatched roofs at Bury. First noticed there in 1773, last in 1855. An extremely rare early flowering species, known only until quite recently from Norfolk and Suffolk, but found in Surrey in 1905 on old walls and sandy places, and it may be overlooked in other spots on account of its being usually quite burnt up by May (see Journ. Bat. 1905, p. 189). Arenaria tenuifolia grows in many places in the Breck country, and its two varieties, laxa and hybrida occur with it occasionally. LtnUfn perenne, handsomest of all the flax family, is Germanic in type ; it seems confined to the Ixworth and Bury districts. Genista pilosa may be seen in several spots in the Breck district, and was found at Icklingham in 1771, when it was new to England. Known besides only from Cornwall, Sussex, Kent, and Pembrokeshire. Medicago sylvestris seems to be peculiar to Suffolk, Norfolk, and Cambridgeshire, and was first found in England, near Bury, in 1805. It grows in several other places in the Breck district, and is supposed by many botanists to be a hybrid between sativa and fakata, and its flowers, often green-tinged, seem to be a blend of the purple flowers of the former and yellow of the latter. M. falcata, as a true native, is also quite an East Anglian species, occurring only in the three counties mentioned above ; it is found in many localities in this district, chiefly in the Breck country. M. minima, a species restricted to the south-east of England, and Astragalus datUCUS occur at Newmarket and in many other places in the Breck district. Lathyrus palustris has been found at Lakenheath and Tuddenham ; it is a decreasing plant in England, with a wide- spread distribution, not reaching, however, higher than Yorkshire (see Trans. Norf. and Norw. Nat. Soc. vii, 472). {L. montanus should be searched for anew in the county ; it is reported very doubtfully from Honington, and is known for Essex and Norfolk, but not for Cambridgeshire.) Potetltllla vema grows in several spots in a limited area around Cavenham and West Stow. Akhemilla vulgaris : Between Lidgate and Cowlinge. Poterium officinale : Thelnetham and Hinderclay Fens, and at Lakenheath. Geum intermedium : Stanton and Bradfield St. George. Sedum reflexum, var. albescens : A scarce plant of dry hills and lieaths ; the type naturalized and common, the variety wild at Mildenhall and near Torquay. Drosera anglica : Mildenhall and Redgrave districts ; the hybrid D. obovata {anglica X rotundifolia) occurs at Redgrave. Lythrum hyssopifoUa is a rare and uncertain annual, and has not been seen in Suffolk for many years ; it formerly grew at Bury, Barrow Bottom, and east of Barton Mere. Peucedanum palustre is an interesting Fen plant, occurring about Mildenhall, with a limited distribution in Britain [Naturalist, 1901, p. 267 ; Trans. Norf. and Norw. Nat. Soc. vii, 467). Larvae of the Swallow-tailed Butterfly are very partial to its foliage. Oeyianthe silaifolia occurs near Bury. Caucalis latifolia, an uncertain cornfield weed, has not been seen in its recorded stations — Saxham and Newmarket — for many years. Galium anglicum is a scarce delicate annual or biennial found in sandy places and on walls, 53