Page:VCH Berkshire 1.djvu/78

 A HISTORY OF BERKSHIRE Berks, as D. longifolia (D. intermedia) was probably mistaken for it ; Chrysosplenium alternifolium, but the reported locality was on the Buck- inghamshire side of the river at Cliveden, and the plant was possibly C. oppositifolium ; Sedum Forsteri was a small form of the introduced S. rejiexum ; Peucedanum officinale was probably Silaus pratensis it is certainly an error ; Cicuta virosa, perhaps confused with Conium ; Rubia peregrina possibly Asperula was mistaken for this plant, which is never found so far inland. Cnicus heterophyllus the form of C. pratensis with leaves more deeply cut was the plant seen ; Crepis paludosa this is not found so far south in a native condition, forms of C. wrens being doubt- less mistaken for it ; Melampyrum arvense, M. syhaticum and M. cristatum probably all of these were forms of M. pratense, which is a variable species ; Orobanche purpurea the purple flowered form of 0. Trifolium- pratense (O. minor) was the plant seen ; Euphorbia platyphyllos has some chance of being correct, it appears to be a decreasing species ; Allium Scorodoprasum was only large A. vinea/e ; Habenaria albida was white flowered H. conopsea ; Cephalanthera ensifotia, but probably a form of C. pallens, which is a frequent plant of the beech woods of the Berkshire downs, was mistaken for it ; Potamogeton gramineum (heterophyllus) was probably a form of P. polygonifolius ; and Carex arenaria and C. CEderi, the first being probably C. disticba, the latter a small form of C. flaw. In addition to the above there are also a few species which I have been unable to discover in the reported stations, and respecting which some mistake of identification may be suspected or the plant may have been extirpated. They are Lathyrus palustris, recorded by Blackstone from woods in the neighbourhood of Abingdon and possibly by Miller from the neighbourhood of Windsor, and these may have been correct, unless Lathyrus montanus, which does occur in these localities, was mis- taken for the marsh pea ; Rosa pimpinellifolia, so far as the Wellington College plant is concerned, is a form of the sweet brier, and the other records have never been corroborated ; Pyrus scandica may be refound unless a form of P. Aria was really observed instead of the plant we now know as P. rotundifolia var. decipiens ; Tillcea muscosa may possibly have been correctly named and be again found ; Antennaria dioica has been found on the Oxfordshire Chilterns and we may expect it in Berks, but if it occurs it must be very locally ; Arctium tomentosum possibly a cottony form of A. minus may have been confused with it, but a plant so named said to have been brought from Bagley Wood was at one time cultivated in the Oxford Botanic Garden, but whether this is identical with the Bagley Wood plant is not absolutely clear ; Filago gallica the Buckinghamshire locality of Iver Heath was probably confused with this county ; Ajuga Cbamcepitys occurs in Surrey, and so may reward the searcher in this county ; Stacbys germanica an Oxfordshire locality (Ducklington) was by mistake referred to Berkshire ; and Calamagrostis lanceolata was probably C. efigeios, as the synonymy of these two species was much confused, and Dr. Lightfoot's record for Windsor Park may have meant C. epigeios, which still grows there. 32