1 AUGUST 1998, Page 28

Clear as a bell

Sir: I have nothing but admiration for the beauty of our London Royal Parks, espe- cially since their semi-privatisation in 1992 and the arrival of David Welch as chief executive. I must, however, correct a state- ment in his Diary (25 July) in which he claimed that the bluebell and the harebell are one and the same plant.

Had he strolled in Hyde Park in April he would have found his bluebells (Endymion non-scriptus) in full flower. Were he to repeat the exercise in Kensington Gardens this week, he would find his harebells (Cam- panula rotund(olia) coming into flower: two very different botanical families.

Andrew Parker Bowles

Bakers House, Brokenborough, Malmesbury, Wiltshire