REDISCOVERY OF CAREX DIVISA IN FORFARSHIRE 231 



" ' Carex divisa, Huds. Marsh near Montrose, and sea- 

 coast of Angusshire, chiefly in marshy places.'- -G. Don, 

 ' Fl.,' May, June ; Hooker, ' Flora Scotica,' p. 262, 1821. 



'"1219. Carex divisa, Huds.' In Hooker's 'Flora 

 Scotica,' on the suspicious testimony of George Don, it is 

 stated to occur in a marsh near Montrose and sea-coast of 

 Angusshire, chiefly in marshy places. 



" ' This short sentence asserts the existence of three 

 stations at least (a marsh plus marshy places), and indeed 

 implies them to be more numerous. Yet neither Mr. 

 Gardiner nor any other botanist appears to have verified or 

 confirmed any one station in the county of Forfar. But as 

 the kind of situation described is that in which C. divisa 

 does usually grow, the author of the ' Flora Scotica ' might 

 be held excused for printing the locality unchallenged, at a 

 time when he himself was slenderly acquainted with the 

 botany of Scotland, and when the accuracy of George Don 

 had not been subjected to those disparaging doubts which 

 it has appeared since so much to warrant.'- -H. C. Watson, 

 ' Cybele Britannica,' vol. iii. p. 103, 1852. 



" ' C. divisa, Huds. Marshy places near the sea, princi- 

 pally in the east of England, and in Angusshire.'- -Hooker 

 and Arnott, 'The British Flora,' ed. viii. p. 206, 1860. 



" After eighty years have passed George Don's record is 

 proved to be correct. The specimens have evidently been 

 arrested in growth, probably from drought, and are small and 

 not well developed, but they are C. divisa, Huds. The late 

 date of gathering is for us remarkable. I saw it quite dried 

 up on 26th July in East Suffolk, only preserved by being 

 among long grass, etc. 



" ' In England it occurs north to Lincoln ! Yorkshire 



o 



south-east, north-east, and south-west ; Cheviotland (i.e. 

 Northumberland, north of the river Coquet and Carter Fell.' 

 Rev. J. Farquharson in ' Proc. of Berwickshire Club,' 1883-84). 



" ' It has been reported for Edinburghshire (Pentland 

 Hills) by Edmonston.' " Ar. Bennett, in Hit. 



The record in Hooker's " Flora Scotica " is not the 

 earliest published notice of the occurrence of the plant in 

 Forfarshire. In the elaborate " Account of the Native 

 Plants in the County of Forfar," contributed by Don him- 



