BOTANY The place of the elm as hedgerow timber is taken by the oak, which however does not usually grow to any great size. Sycamores grow finely on the southern slopes of the hills, and the hornbeam occurs occasionally in the neighbourhood of Bromsgrove. Traveller's joy. Clematis Vitalba, which plentifully decks the hedgerows where the soil is at all calcareous, seldom strays on to the New Red Sandstone of the northern parts. Primroses, absolutely abounding in the valley of the Teme, and general elsewhere, thin out as the northern part of the county is approached, where they lurk only on hidden banks and in the thickets of woods, while in the extreme north-east they hardly occur ; but the woods and dingles which clothe the hills in this district are the chosen home of the bluebell and wood-anemone. The roadside wastes and hedgerow banks show little floral decoration after speedwell, stitchwort, and wild parsley have disappeared with the first burst of spring. A feature of the sandstone banks of the north is Saxifraga granulata^ some- times occurring most abundantly ; but Cotyledon Umbilicus, even in places which seem typical habitats, is unknown except in Habberley Valley and Wolverley near Kidderminster. In many localities on the Red Sandstone, and occurring more sparsely elsewhere, are two somewhat rare plants — Arabis perfoliata and Campanula patula. The former is especially abundant on the sides of the railway to the north of Kidderminster ; and the latter fringes in quantity the deep railway-cutting through the water-stones to the south of Stourbridge, but entirely disappears to the north-east of the Clent Hills. There are no natural lakes in Worcestershire, the largest sheets of water being that in Westwood Park, some 60 acres, and Pirton Pool, a few miles to the south of Worcester. But the brooks coming down towards the Stour from the high land at Clent have been formed into chains of pools, usually of no great size. Some large reservoirs have been constructed in the neighbourhood of the Lickey and at Tardebigge to feed the Birmingham Canal. Many marshy spots have been drained, and the plants that love such spots have vanished. Especially is this the case with Longdon Marsh, near Upton-on-Severn, in the south of the county, which in rainy seasons used to assume the appearance of a vast lake. Here grew, and possibly some of them still linger in lesser quantity, Butomus umbellatus, Carex disticha, Cnicus pratensis, Hippuris vulgaris, Lathyrus palustris, Lysimachia vulgaris, CEtianthe Lachenalii, CE. Peucedanifolia, Phragtnites communis, Poterium officinale, Rumex maritimus and Scirpus maritimus. In the far north of the county Moseley Bog, the drainage of which ultimately found its way into the Trent, but the site of which is now nearly covered by extending Birmingham, once produced many rare plants, including Anagallis tenella, Cnicus pratensis, Drosera rotundifolia, Equisetum sylvaticum, Eriophorum vaginatum, Hyperi- cum elodes, Menyanthes trifoliata, Molinia ccerulea, Narthecium ossifragum, Osmunda regalis, Parnassia palustris, Pedicularis palustris, Potentilla Coma- rum, Rhyncospora alba, Vaccinium Oxycoccus and Viola palustris. Some eight miles to the east of Droitwich there formerly existed a tract 35
