Nathaniel John Winch

“ HOGG's valuable Tract, [7] appended to the second edition of Brewster's History of Stockton, numerous habitats have been extracted, for the south-eastern corner of the county of Durham is propitious to the growth of several southern plants which here terminate their range towards the north. Their appearance on this side of the Tees is partly owing to the shelter afforded by the Cleveland hills, but more especially by the warm and fertile soil originating from the decomposition of the Red Sandstone rocks, prevalent in the lower part of this vale. ”

“ Then again there is another class of Botanists more injurious than these, they too are generally men who set their faces against any increase of genera, but who, at the same time, consider that the most trifling difference in a leaf, a serrature, or a hair, should constitute a specific distinction : and to such an extravagant pitch is this system now carried in certain genera — take Rosa, Rubus, Salix, Myosotis, no two persons are or can be agreed on what constitutes a species and what not, in such tribes. ”

“ Hooker justly remarks, "the experience of a hundred years has proved to every unprejudiced mind, that no system can be compared to that of the immortal Swede, for the facility with which it enables any one hitherto unpractised in botany to arrive at a knowledge of the genus and species of a plant." And as the chief value of these memoranda will be in assisting those who are commencing their botanic career, an enumeration of genera and species adapted to their line of study was to be preferred. ”

“ In nothing is more consideration now required than to determine what of new genera ought to be adopted and what rejected. Had you and I begun our botanic career when old Dickson was in his prime, we should have had the same aversion to the Hedwigian improvements which he had, but which have nevertheless tended so very much to the advancement of muscology. ”

“ To these must be added, the almost insurmountable difficulty that the various species or varieties pass by insensible degrees into each other, and though at first sight, no two Roses may appear more dissimilar than Rosa canina on the one hand, and Rosa villosa on the other, yet links can easily be furnished to form a complete chain between them. Rosa canina is well known as a robust growing bush, with hooked prickles, smooth oval fruit and shining leaves. In Rosa sarmentacea the plant becomes slender in habit, and with us its leaves generally assume a glaucous hue. ”

“ This is owing in a great measure to the altered and degenerate state in which many appear when growing out of their natural localities, but more particularly to the slow mode of increase common to many of the crustaceous species. I have observed that, after the lapse of ten years, specimens of Lecanora atra, portions of which I had chipped from a stone wall, had not again formed the circular patches of crust, which is their natural mode of growth. ”

“ The series comprises Salix prostrata, S. fusca, S. parvifolia, S. adscendens, and S, incubacea of the English Botany, — probably S. foetida of the English Flora, might be added to the list, but of this I do not possess authenticated specimens. The sub-alpine glens which descend from our moors are the true localities of several of the rare Willows with broad leaves, and it is in such places they should be studied, rather than in Botanic Gardens, where their habits become materially altered by cultivation. ”

“ The mean temperature of these seven months is, from 55° 8' to 50° 9'; accordingly, the years are more or less fruitful; wheat does not ripen if the mean temperature descends to 47° 6'. The mean heat of the summers of Scotland in the environs of Edinburgh, is found again on the table lands of New Grenada, so rich in wheat, at 1,400 toises of elevation, and at 4° of north latitude.—Humboldt. ”

“ With respect to Rosa Eglanteria, it will be found to vary through Rosa micrantha to Rosa Borreri, or inodora of the foreign Botanists, a bad name for a plant which still possesses, in some degree, the odour of the Eglantine, and which the old herbalists would have denominated a savage Sweet Briar. Passing on to another section of the genus, we find the same uncertainty of specific character to continue. ”

“ Calyx permanent, entire.
α At Baydales, near Darlington, D. β in Heaton Dene, below Benton Bridge, and near Goldspink Hall, N. Near Middleton-one-Row, D.— Mr. J. Backhouse. In α gracilis the large prickles are somewhat falcate; this is all the difference I can observe in the plants growing between Keswick and Lorton, from which Woods drew up his specific character, and β Sabini the variety found in Heaton Dene. We have not the elegant white variety with red glands, abundant in Ennerdale. With γ involuta, I am acquainted by specimens and plants procured on the shores of Arran by the late Mr. ”

“ In Cawsey Wood, on walls at Beamish and Stanhope, on rocks at the Gunner's Pool in Castle Eden Dene, and in Ravensworth Woods, D. On rocks at Shewing Shields, and near Tecket Water-fall, N. On the banks of Common Bourn near Cheviot.— W.C. Trevelyan, Esq. On Little Waney-house Crag near Sweethope take, N. — Wallis, 254. This fern, when growing at different elevations, in various exposures, and on rocks dissimilar in chemical composition, becomes so much altered in general appearance, that it has afforded botanists opportunities of multiplying the species fourfold at least. ”

“ Sm. Eng. Fl. ii. 391. Bracteas serrated, pointed and leafy, longer than the flower-stalks, which are short and stout, sometimes four or five together. Tube of the calyx roundish. Segments pinnate, permanent. Flowers pale red. Styles prominent, hairy. Stigmas forming a round head. Fruit, red, globular.
In Heaton Dene, and hedges near Sandyford, N. Between Middleton and Langley Ford, N., and near Berwick. — Dr. G. Johnston.
10. R. canina. Common Dog Rose. Fruit ovate, smooth as well as the flower-stalks. Prickles of the stem hooked. Leaflets ovate, pointed, very smooth, singly serrated. ”

“ I have never seen specimens gathered in the north of England; in the south it is not rare on sandy commons, such as Ryegate, in Surrey.
183. SAPONARIA. 1. S. officinalis. Soapwort. Sm. Eng. Fl. ii. 284; Eng. Bot. 1060; Curt. Fasc. ii. 29; Woodv. t. 251; Gr. Fl. Eds. 95; With. ii. 541.
On the banks of Tyne near Friar's Goose, and of Wear at Newbridge, near Chester-le-Street, and Low Lambton, D. By the Wear, half a mile below Finchall Abbey. — Mr. J. Thornhill, jun. Near Darlington. —Rev. J. Harriman. By the Tees at Croft Bridge, and at Middleton-one row, D.—Mr. E. Robson. ”

“ In bogs at Willington Quay, and Prestwick Carr, on the coast at Holy Island, near the Snook, and on the beach at Bamborough, N. In the marsh below Southwick, and on the coast between Sunderland and Ryhope, also near Hartlepool, and Castle Eden, D. About Darlington. — S. Robson. See Flora, p. 72. Near Norton, and on the sea banks near Blackwell Halls, D.- J. Hogg, Esq.
A very widely disseminated plant, appearing to be indigenous in the four quarters of the globe, and found even in Australia.
94. LONICERA. 1. L. Periclymenum. Common Honeysuckle, or Woodbine. Sm. Eng. Fl. i. 326; Eng. Bot. 800 ”

“ Eng. Bot. 2703; Berwick Flora, ii. 274; Hook. Br. Fl. 83, under M. palustris; M. scorpioides, Alpine variety; Northumberland and Durham Guide, i. 18.
By the Irthing, on the moors above Gilsland, and by the rivulet near the summit of Cheviot, N. In the vale below Langley Ford, and in Horncliff Dene. —Dr. G. Johnston. On the moors near Redpath, N.— W.C. Trevelyan, Esq. By the High Force, and on Widdy Bank, D. — Mr. Backhouse.
This plant requires too long a specific character to be a very good species. — See Eng. Bot. ”

“ ONONIS. 1. O. arvensis. Common Rest-harrow. Sm. Eng. Fl. iii. 267; Lightfoot, 386; Hook. Fl. Scot. 212.
β O. spinosa, Linn. Sp. Pl. 1006; With. iii. 823; O. antiquorum, of Linnaeus, according to Borrer. — See Eng. Bot. p. 2659; O. arvensis, Eng. Bot. t. 682.
γ O. repens, Linn. Sp. Pl. 1006; O. arvensis, Eng. Bot. 2659; Berwick Flora, 159.
α By the borders of fields. β by the road side near Hebburn, D. γ on the sea coast of Northumberland and Durham, frequent.
291. ANTHYLLIS 1. A. vulncraria. Kidney-vetch, Ladies'-finger. Sm. Eng. Fl. iii. ”

“ Roth and Lindley consider Betula pendula a distinct species from B. alba, owing to its weeping branches; and, when young, its bark being smooth and warted.
373. CARPINUS. 1. C. Betulus. Horn-beam. Sm. Eng. Fl. iv. 155; Eng. Bot. 2032; Hook. Fl. Scot. 274.
In plantations.
Not originally a native of the north of England.
374. CORYLUS. 1. C. Avellana, Hazel-nut-tree. Sm. Eng. Fl. iv. 157; Eng. Bot. 723; Hook. Fl. Scot. 275; Lond. t. 17; Berwick Flora, 208.
In woods, hedges, and denes, common.
MONOECIA MONADELPHIA. 375. PINUS. 1. P. sylvestris Scotch Fir. Sm. Eng. Fl. iv. 158; Eng. Bot. ”

“ In meadows and pastures, but not frequent.
101. A. psittacinus. With. iv. 323; Gr. Crypt, t. 74; Sowerby. t. 82; Berwick Flora, ii. 172; Schaeff: t. 301; Persoon, Syn. 335; A. chamaeleon, Bull. 562, t. 545, f. 1; Earn, and De Cand. ii. 180.
In meadows and pastures near Gateshead, Gibside, and Medomsley, D. On Holy Island, and near Belford, also about Newcastle, but not common, N.
102. A. aquosus. Bolton, t. 71, f. 1; A. cryptarum, With. iv. 324, var. 1.
On decayed wood not frequent. Near Medomsley, D. In Horsley and Felton Woods, N.
Probably not a good species. ”

“ On the Windmill Hills, near Gateshead; and close to Beamish mill, D. In Heaton Dene, near Rennoldson's mill; also by the road side near St. Anthon's, and North Shields, N. Introduced among corn. This grass is not mentioned in Hooker's Flora Scotica.
2. A. canina. Brown Bent-grass. Sm. Eng. Fl. i. 90; Eng. Bot. 1856; Hook. Fl. Scot. 24. β Hudson 30; A. tenuifolia, Curtis Br. Gr. 42.
On the heath at Prestwick Carr, N. On Gateshead Fell, and in Waskerly Park, D. At Birch Barr, near Darlington.—Mr. Backhouse.
In autumn this grass puts out long shoots, which take root at every joint. ”