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BOTANICAL
SECTION.
M U C H good work in investigating the past and present distribution of Flowers, Ferns, Mosses, Hepatics, Lichens and Fungi in the county has been done by individual members, but a Botanical Section will, it is hoped, be of value to students and help them in the identification and study of some of the more difficult groups.
Attention, for instance, is drawn to the need for study of such groups as the Roses, Brambles and Willows and for the working out of the distribution of species and hybrids in the County, which is imperfectly known. Valuable work remains to be done in studying ecological and other changes in the flora, the decrease or spread of native and alien species. It is important to record the date of appearance of any stränge foreign-looking plant. Records should be send to the Section Secretary and Committee, to whom specimens may also be sent for identification, with a view to bringing the " F l o r a " of the county up-to-date. But we would remind you not to uproot a rare or attractive plant or to pluck a flower-head for identification which may result in a rarity producing no seed and in the extinction of a species from the area ; and not to divulge indiscriminately the exact locality of a rarity. Some members may be able to prevent the destruction of certain habitats in their neighbourhood. We all wish to preserve our dwindling heritage of attractive and uncommon wild-flowers. Lectures and Field Meetings will be held in various parts of the county, of which all members will be notified. F. W.
SIMPSON,
Section Secretary.
In mid-July I noticed on the edge of the marshes by Mights Bridge in Reydon half a dozen plants of a kind I did not know ; and, growing under the south edge of Walberswick Wood, surprisingly attenuated examples of the common colloquial " Bunnies," Linaria vulgaris, Mill., the highest of which attained no less than just 4 | feet. Mr. Simpson has never known such a length ; and teils me the Reydon plant is Allium vineale, L., which he finds far more frequently along our coast than Hind's few east Suffolk habitats tend to suggest.—CLAUDE M O R L E Y .