The New Forest: its history and its scenery/Chapter 21
CHAPTER XXI.
THE BOTANY.—THE FLOWERING PLANTS AND FERNS.
Closely connected with the geology of the Forest are its flowers. And though mere geology could not tell us the whole Flora of a district, yet we might always be able, by its help and that of the latitude, to give the typical plants. Close to the chalk, the Forest possesses none of the chalk flowers. No bee-orchis or its congeners, although so common on all the neighbouring Wiltshire downs, bloom. No travellers'-joy trails amongst its thickets, although every hedge in Dorsetshire, just across the Avon, is clothed in the autumn with its white fleece of seeds. No yellow bird's-nest (Monotropa Hypopitys) shades itself under its beeches, though growing only a few miles distant on the chalk.
Still, here there are some contradictions. The chalk-loving yew appears to be indigenous. Several plants which we might reasonably expect, as herb-Paris, the bird-nest orchis (Neottia Nidus-avis), and the common mezereon (Daphne Mezereum), are wanting.
Owing to the want of stiff clay, no hornbeams grow in its woods, except, perhaps, a few in one or two cold "bottoms." No Solomon's seal or lilies of the valley whiten its dells. No meadow-geranium waves its blue flowers on the banks of the Avon.[1]
On the other hand, the plants too truly tell the character of the soil. In the spring the little tormentil shows its bright blossoms, and the petty-whin grows side by side with the furze, and the sweet mock-myrtle throws its shadow over the streams. In the summer and autumn the blue sheep's-bit scabious and the golden-rod bloom, with the three heathers. In the bogs the round-leaved sundew is pearled with wet, and not far from it the cotton-grass waves its white down, and the asphodel rears its golden spike.
These are the commonest flowers of the Forest, and grow everywhere over its moors. In its dykes and marshes, the common frog-bit and the marsh-pimpernel spring up in every direction. The buckbean, too, brightens every pool on the south side, and is so common near the Avon that many of the fields are called "the buckbean mead," whilst in the northern parts it is known as "the fringed water-lily."
Very rich is the Forest in all these bog-plants. In Hinchelsea and Wilverley Bottoms grow the water-pimpernel (Samolus Valerandi), the lesser bladder-wort, and the bur-reed (Sparganium natans) floating on the water. Here, too, perhaps, the easternmost station known for it, blossoms the butterwort (Pinguicula Lusitanica), with its pale delicate flowers. In the autumn, also, the open turf grounds round Wootton are blue with the Calathian violet (Gentiana Pneumonanthe); whilst its little bright congener (Cicendia filiformis) blossoms in all the damp places.
Owing, also, to the presence of iron, the Forest possesses no less than seventeen or eighteen carices. The little thyme-leaved flax, too (Radiola millegrana), grows in all the moist, sandy dells.
From this general view it will be seen that the true Forest plants are not so much "sylvestral" as "ericetal," and "paludal," and "uliginal." Besides these groups, however, the Flora of the district further divides itself into the "littoral plants" along the sea-shores and estuaries, and the "pascual" flowers of the valley of the Avon. In the former division, owing to the want of rocks, no Statice spathulata grows on its sea-board. No true samphire (Crithmum maritimum) blossoms. The beautiful maiden's-hair fern, once so plentiful on the neighbouring coast of the Isle of Wight, is also from the same cause wanting.
Still, great beauty blooms on the Forest streams and shores. In the latter part of the summer, the mudbanks of the Beaulieu river are perfectly purple with the sea-aster, whilst the sea-lavender waves its bright blue crest among the reed-beds washed over by every tide.
The valley of the Avon is characterized, as may be expected, by the commoner species, which are to be found in such situations. Here, and in the adjoining cultivated parts, which once were more or less a part of the Forest, we find the soap-wort (Saponaria officinalis) and the thorn-apple (Datura Stramonium), and those colonists which always harbour close to the dwellings of man. Other considerations remain. The situation and climate of the New Forest, of course, have a great effect on its plants.[2] The two myrtles and the sweet-bay grow under the cliffs of Eagleshurst, close to the Solent, unhurt by the hardest frosts. The grapes ripen on the cottage-walls of Beaulieu nearly as early as in Devonshire. I have seen the coltsfoot in full blossom, near Hythe, on the 27th of February; and the blackthorn flowers at Wootton on the 3rd of April.
The area of the New Forest comes under Watson's Subprovince of the Mid-Channel, on the Southern belt of his Inferagrarian zone. Its position lies exactly half-way between his Germanic and Atlantic types. The former shows itself by Dianthus Armeria, and Pulicaria vulgaris, growing near Marchwood and Bisterne. The latter by such examples as Cotyledon umbilicus, Pinguicula Lusitanica, Briza minor, and Agrostis setacea. The "British" and "English" types are, of course, plentifully represented.[3]
Looking, too, at the trees and shrubs which are indigenous, we shall find them also eminently characteristic. In spite of what Cæsar says, the beech is certainly a native, pushing out in places even the oak. The holly, too, grows everywhere in massy clumps. In the spring, the wild crab (Pyrus Malus) crimsons the thickets of Brockenhurst, in the autumn the maple. The butcher's broom stands at the foot of each beech, and the ivy twines its great coil round each oak, and the mistletoe finds its home on the white poplar.
After all, the trees, and not the flowers, give its character to the New Forest. In the spring, all its woods are dappled with lights and shades, with the amber of the oak and the delicate soft-gleaming green of the birch and beech. In the autumn, the spindle-tree (Euonymus Europæus) in the Wootton copses is hung with its rosy gems; and the trenches of Castle Malwood are strewed with the silver leaves of the white-beam.
To return, however, to the plants, let us notice how some particular families seem especially to like the light gravelly soil of the Forest district. Take, for instance, the St. John's-worts, of which we have no less than six, if not more varieties. The common perforated (Hypericum perforatum) shines on every dry heath, and the square-stalked (quadrangulum) in all the damp boggy places. The tutsan (Androsæmum) is so common round Wootton that it is known to all the children as "touchen leaves," evidently only a corruption of its name; and its berries are believed throughout the Forest to be stained with the blood of the Danes. The rarer large-flowered (calycinum) grows, though not, I am afraid, truly wild, in some of the thickets round Sway. In all the ponds, the marsh (elodes) springs up, whilst the creeping (humifusum) trails its blossoms over the turf of the Forest lanes, and the small (pulchrum) shows its orange-tipped flowers amongst the brambles and bushes.
Take, again, the large family of the ferns, of which seventeen species are distributed throughout the Forest. First and foremost, of course, stands the royal fern (Osmunda regalis), which may be found from the sea-board to Fordingbridge, rearing its stem in some places six feet high, and covering in patches on the southern border, as at Beckley, nearly a quarter of an acre. It grows in Chewton Glen, in all the lanes in the neighbourhood, on Ashley Common, close to the Osmanby Ford River, and rears its golden-brown pannicles in the boggy thickets near Rufus's Stone. But before it, in beauty, stands the lady-fern, with its delicate fronds and its tender green, growing in the open spaces of the beech woods, as at Stonehard and Puckpits, and bending over the Forest streams in large leafy clumps. Then, too, in all the large woods grows the sweet-scented mountain fern (Lastrea Oreopteris); and on every bank the hart's-tongue spreads its broad ribbon-like leaves, and the fertile fronds of the hardfern spring up feathery and light, whilst from the old oaks the common polypody droops with its dark green tresses. The common maiden-hair (Asplenium Trichomanes), too, hangs on the walls and Forest banks; and on Alice Lisle's tomb, at Ellingham, the rue-leaved spleenwort is green throughout the whole year. On Breamore churchyard wall and Ringwood bridges grows the common scale-fern, whilst in the meadows of the Avon springs the adder's-tongue's green spear.
Nor must we forget the brake, common though it be, for this it is which gives the Forest so much of its character, clothing it with green in the spring; and when the heather is withered, and the furze, too, decayed, making every holt and hollow golden.[4]
And now for some other plants, without reference to their species, but simply to their beauty. On Ashley Common and the neighbouring grass-fields grows the moth-mullein (Verbascum Blattaria), dropping its yellow flowers, as they one by one expand. In the neighbouring pools, as far as Wootton, the blossoms of the great spearwort (Ranunculus Lingua) gleam among the reeds. There, also, the narrow-leaved lungwort (Pulmonaria angustifolia), with its leaves both plain and spotted, opens its blue and crimson flowers so bright, that they are known to all the children as the "snake flower," and gathered by handfuls mixed with the spotted orchis. And the ladies' tresses, too (Spiranthes autumnalis), shows its delicate brown braid on every dry field on the southern border.
Besides these, the feathered pink (Dianthus plumarius) blooms on the cloister-walls at Beaulieu; and the Deptford pink (Dianthus Armaria) in the valley of the Avon at Hucklebrook, near Ibbesley. The bastard-balm (Melittis Melissophyllum) flaunts its white and purple blossoms over the banks of Wootton plantation, whilst at Oakley and Knyghtwood the red gladiolus crimsons the green beds of fern.
Briefly, let me say that, as is the Forest soil, so are its plants. Nature ever makes some compensations. The barrenest places she ever clothes with beauty. If corn will not grow, she will give man something better. In the great woods the columbines and tutsan shine in the spring with their blue and yellow blossoms, and the wood-sorrel nestles its white flowers among the mossy roots of the oaks. In the more open spaces the foxgloves overtop the brake, and in the grassy spots the eyebright waves its white-grey crest; and not far off are sure to gleam faint crimson patches of the marsh-pimpernel, half hid in moss; whilst the swamps are fringed with the coral of the sundew.
Footnotes edit
- ↑ In one place only in the Forest, on some waste ground at Alum Green, have I seen this plant.
- ↑ On this point see what Bromfield observes in his Introduction to the Flora Vectensis, p. xxvi.
- ↑ In Appendix II. I have given a list of all the characteristic plants of the New Forest to assist the collector; and, I trust, comprehensive enough for the botanist to make generalizations.
- ↑ Besides these we have all over the Forest Lastrea Filix-mas, and dilatata, and Asplenium adiantum nigrum, and Polystichum angulare, with its varieties, angustatum and aculeatum, found near Fordingbridge. My friend, Mr. Rake, who discovered angustatum, found also, in February, 1856, near Fordingbridge, Lastrea spinulosa, but it has never since been seen in the locality.