220 The Scottish Naturalist. 



by Mr. Westwood, of the Botanical Garden, Dollar, as a part of a 

 plant picked by him and Mr. C. Stewart on Ben Wyvis, about ten 

 years ago. 



The only way in which Don could possibly have mistaken this 

 plant for Sibbaldia was in gathering a specimen out of flower, 

 planting it in his garden, and then P. tridentata being afterwards 

 believed to be the same ; but this suggestion requires such an 

 amount of ignorance on the part of Don that I cannot adopt it. 

 Remember in his original record Don says the plant is the most 

 beautiful of its genus ; " its beautiful white flowers at once dis- 

 tinguish it ; " and also one must bear in mind that Sibbaldia must 

 have been to Don one of the commonest plants, and must have 

 been known to him in all its forms. Surely one who could differ- 

 entiate the characters of the cut-leaved Saxifrages, and the Alpine 

 Poa and Aira forms, could have never confounded these two plants. 

 Mr. Watson suggests Potentilla Fragrariastrum, a slightly more 

 probable solution. Mr. Gardiner makes a still more pertinent 

 suggestion. It must be remembered that both this and Ranun- 

 culus alpestris are positively stated by Don to have been gathered 

 by him on the same day, April 3, 1809, a date on which I venture 

 to doubt no botanist of critical acumen has visited either locality. 



The fact is, Don's critics, when they do not call him a knave, 

 suggest he is a fool. Don, were he alive, would prove, as did 

 Newman in his " Apologia," that he was neither the one nor the 

 other. 

 Potentilla intermedia Nessl. P. opaca Sm. 



" P. opaca. Clova mts. Don, never confirmed, but the speci- 

 mens are intermedia Nessl." Stud. Flora. 



" Province 15, Perth and Forfar. G. Don only. Error. Incog. 

 Repeatedly as the hills of Clova have been searched by the best 

 collecting botanists of Scotland and England since the time of 

 Don, this species has not again been found." Cyb. Brit., 1,345. 



"Clova mts., Mr. G. Don." Flor. For/. 

 '• P. intermedia, Ness. {Opaca Sm. En%. Fl., 2,449, vol. xxxviii.) 



Said to have been found by Don on the hills of Clova and Braes 

 of Balquhidder and seashore, opposite Dundee ; but not found by 

 any other botanist, and his authority alone is not sufficient to 

 establish its occurrence." Boswell, Eng. Pot. 



" Is not known as a native." Bab. Ma., ed. vii., 102. 



Mr. David Don, son of George Don, in a paper contributed 

 to the Wernerian Society, says that the Potentilla was first dis_ 

 covered by his father, and that he himself saw specimens when 



