Records of Woodhall Spa and Neighbourhood: Historical, Anecdotal, Physiographical, and Archaeological, with Other Matter — John Shaqi
Records of Woodhall Spa and Neighbourhood: Historical, Anecdotal, Physiographical, and Archaeological, with Other MatterWalter, J. Conway (James Conway)
History
Records of Woodhall Spa and Neighbourhood: Historical, Anecdotal, Physiographical, and Archaeological, with Other Matter
Walter, J. Conway (James Conway)
Woodhall Spa (England)
in the course of a morning’s walk, more than 110 different specimens.
Probably the rarest plant was the Silene Quinque vulneralis, the
discovery of which led to a lengthy correspondence, it being rarely found
in England, though fairly common in Jersey. It was growing in a field
which now forms part of the garden of the Victoria Hotel. The
alterations necessary to make that transformation extinguished it, or
rather buried it out of sight; but as some correspondents gave instances
where it had recurred in localities in which it had for years been
unknown, there is no absolute reason why it should not also reappear in
this case. Should it do so, we can only cry, _parce_, _precor_, to the
too ruthless collector. The Osmunda Regalis, again, a few years ago was
very plentiful; the writer has had plants of it which grew to be three,
four, and even five feet in height, but it is now quite extinct. Not
only so, but the writer, finding this to be the case, replanted some
roots of it in 1897, where he fondly hoped they would escape observation,
but, on going to look for them the following year, he found the soil dug
up all round the place by the trespassing marauder, and not a trace of
them was left.
The following plants have been mentioned by different authorities as
among those which are be found. The Rev. E. Adrian Woodruffe Peacock,
secretary to the Lincolnshire Naturalists’ Union, says: “We may expect to
find some of the following rare plants—Ranunculus Hederaceus, Corydalis
claviculata, Raphanus Raphanistrum, Silene Quinque-Vulnera (most rare),
Silene Anglica (not so rare), Vicia Bobartii, Cotyledon Umbilicus, Sedum
Villosum, Sedum Reflexum, Drosera Anglica, Epilobium Tetragonum,
Campanula Ranunculoides. At a meeting of the Alford Naturalists’ Society
the secretary exhibited the following plants, obtained from the Woodhall
district, presenting a striking difference to the plants found about
Alford, owing to the sandy moorland soil of Woodhall:—Calluna Erica
(ling), Erica Tetralix (cross-leaved heath), Artemisia Vulgaris
(mugwort). Marrubium Vulgare (white horehound), Teucrium Scorodonia
(wood sage), Hydrocotyle Vulgaris (white-rot), and the Hardfern (Lomaria
Spicant); also fruiting specimens of Solidago Virgaurea (golden rod),
Lepidium Campestre (field pepper-wort), Cotyledon Umbilicus (wall
penny-wort).”
I conducted the members of the Lincoln Natural History and Archæological
Society round the neighbourhood a few years ago, in the month of April,
and they reported 39 plants as being then in flower, the most interesting
being Saxifraga Tridactylites (stone-crop), Draba Verna (vernal whitlow
grass), Erodium Cicutarium (hemlock, stork’s bill), Cotyledon Umbilicus
(wall pennywort), and the Tussilago Petasites (butter-bur), Stellaria
Holostea (greater stitchwort); also Parietaria Officinalis (wall
pellitory), not yet in bloom, and in a pond Stratiotes Aloides (water
soldier) in great abundance.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account