10 DK JOHNSTON'S ADDRI 



mend it powerfully to popular attention. The Hieracium aurantiaeum, 

 the discovery of Miss Hunter ; the Hieracium molle, and Carexfulva, 

 both detected, in the first instance, in Berwickshire, by Mr Brown ; the 

 Hypnum stramineum (in fruit), another of his interesting additions to 

 our list ; and the Lathyrus sylvestris, and the Carex distans, lately dis- 

 cbvered near Berwick by Mr Dunlop, deserve to be particularised on 

 account of their rarity : the Pulmonaria maritima restored to our shores 

 by the researches of the Rev. J. Baird and Mr Carr, and the Myosotis 

 sylvatica of Langton woods, are preeminent for their beauty ; and the 

 Chenopodium urbicum is interesting as the subject of a strange story, 

 which purports that this weed could by cultivation be turned into a real 

 strawberry, and relative to which there is a curious letter from the hap- 

 less Josephine to her gardener, in her lately published Memoirs, for a 

 knowledge of which, as of the plant itself, we are -indebted to Mr Em- 

 bleton. 



While, on the one hand, the Scottish flora owes two good additions to 

 this Club ; on the other, it has contributed two also to the floral cata- 

 logue of Northumberland ; and both of these are the discoveries of our 

 Secretary. It was long believed that the vernal squill was peculiar to 

 the western coasts of England ; but the discovery of it by the Rev. A. 

 Baird on the coast of Berwickshire removed this their peculiar ornament 

 and boast ; and Mr Embleton has extended its eastern range, for he finds 

 it in abundance at Dunstanborough Castle. Aspidium Thelypteris is 

 the other new Northumbrian plant ; and it is not a little curious that this 

 fern, which is stated by Dr Hooker to be abundant in Scotland, should 

 not be found at all in Berwickshire, and is so rare in the north of Eng- 

 land that it has escaped the notice of the many acute botanists who have 

 botanised there, until this late date, when Mr Embleton drew it from its 

 lurking-place in Learmouth bogs, on the very verge of the kingdom. 



May I urge those members of the club who devote themselves more 

 exclusively to botany, to continue the researches which have been so 

 productive during the past year ? for the field is not exhausted so long 

 as there remains a corner of the county unexplored ; and there are, I 

 ween, not a few 



" spots that seem to lie 



Sacred to flowerets of the hills," 



where no one has yet wandered, and where no one will wander, " save 

 he who follows nature." There is too much to learn of the habits and 

 properties of our common plants ; and I may mention, as an illustration 

 of the remark, the observation which was made on the butterwort (Pin- 

 guicula vulgaris) during our excursion to Cheviot. It was then acci- 

 dentally observed, that, when specimens of this plant were somewhat 

 rudely pulled up, the flower-stalk, previously erect, almost immediately 

 began to bend itself backwards, and formed a more or less perfect seg- 

 ment of a circle ; and so, also, if a specimen is placed in the botanic box, 



