450 WILD FLOWERS OF 



perpendicular height. Here, amidst the clouds that 

 perpetually saturate this fearful reef, most of the 

 famed plants of Snowdonia grow, as mentioned by RAY, 

 and other British botanists.* Among the chasms of 

 this ridge I began cautiously to slide ; but the little 

 "Welchman, with his tin box on his back, actually 

 bounded like a roe, and soon brought me, from an 

 almost inaccessible peak, some specimens of the rare 

 Saussurea dlpina, or alpine Saw-wort. My own re- 

 searches produced me the Oxyria reniformis, or 

 Mountain Sorrel, Scurvy Grass (Cochlearia officinalis), 

 Mountain Fescue Grass (Festuca vivipara), the silky 

 leaved Cerastium alpinum, Mountain Rue (Tlialictruin 

 alpinuni), the beautiful Ferns Allosorus Orispus, Cis- 

 topteris fragilis et dentata, and Asplenium viride, as 

 well as Alpine Clubmoss (Lycopodium alpinuwi), and 

 the pretty prickly Clubmoss, L. selaginoides. Arenaria 

 verna was also plentifully in flower, its silver blossoms 

 shining elegantly amidst masses of dark rock. Poly- 

 gonum viviparum, and many other alpine species 

 might be referred to but one expedition will not 

 suffice to gather all, nor must the Botanist expect it.f 

 Besides these, among the dripping cavities, many 

 beautiful Mosses spread their deep green velvet 

 cushions, studded with urnlike fruit, among the most 

 elegant of which occurred PotytricJium urnigerum et 

 alpinum, Straight-leaved Apple-Moss (JBartramia ithy- 



* The rare JVoodsia hyperborea still grows sparingly upon the rocks of 

 Clogwyn-y-Garnedd, the habitat recorded by RAY. With regard to the 

 difference between this and Woo Asia Ilvensis, Mr. WILSON remarks that 

 he " never had the slightest difficulty in distinguishing these plants, the 

 first by its ovate, the second by its oblong pinnae." 



t Other Snowdonian plants are Silene acaulis, Cerastium latifolium, 

 Dryas octopetala, Saxifraga nivnlis, Carex rigida, Aira alpina, Poa 

 alpina, Poa glauea or Parnelli, Festuca ovina var- rivipara, Hymeno~ 

 phyllum Tunbridgense, and H. IViUoni. 



