Ix PROCEEDINGS OF THE 



Mr. Landsborough stated that in 1829 the late Mrs. Craufurd r 

 of Craufurdland Castle, after having read the poem on Arran, 

 resolved to cross to the island — a much greater undertaking in those 

 days than now — and search for the plant. She did so, and was 

 successful in finding it. He then gave a graphic account of his 

 own search for this orchid, and the discovery of it in a copse not far 

 from Whiting-bay, where, in the shade, it grew and bloomed in 

 perfection. Another specimen was afterwards found growing in a 

 place where the copse had been destroyed, and through exposure to 

 the glare of the sunlight its purity and tender beauty were gone. 

 It was carefully taken up and planted in front of Mr. Landsborough's 

 house at Kilmarnock, in a situation partially shaded by a wall, 

 where it lived for a few years but never bloomed. Years after- 

 wards, when visiting Whiting-bay. Mr. Landsborough found that 

 a patch of half-a-dozen plants of the orchid had been discovered by 

 a little daughter of the Rev. W. Stewart, Free Church minister, as 

 well as by her cousin, who, knowing nothing of the rarity of the 

 flowers, yet struck with their beauty, had together dug them all up 

 and planted them in the garden. Seeing at a glance that the plants 

 were doomed, Mr. Landsborough asked and obtained one which he 

 took home to Kilmarnock and planted in front of his house. It 

 was placed in a spot thoroughly drained and with sufficient light, 

 yet partially shaded by a large plant of ivy It recovered from 

 the effects of the double transplanting, but did not bloom the 

 following year. Since then, however, it has bloomed every summer, 

 but owing to the smokier atmosphere its flowers have not the same 

 beauty and purity as in the Arran woods. 



Mr. Landsborough remarked that he did not wonder that a plant 

 apparently so delicate as Cephalanthera ensifolia should grow at 

 the coast in Arran, where the lowest temperature last winter (1887- 

 88) was 26° F., as compared with 8° at Kilmarnock, and where 

 also he had known Camellias to bloom in the open air in January, 

 and such trees flourish as the Blue Gum, Acacia, Pittosporum, 

 Cabbage Palm, Tree Fern, and Grass Tree. He did not expect, 

 however, that this orchid would grow in Ayrshire, unless, perhaps, 

 in one of the mildest spots. Great, then, was his surprise to learn 

 that in 1879 a patch of more than a dozen plants had been discovered 

 by Mr. Harper, Gardener at Annick Lodge. His surprise was much 

 increased on visiting the spot, which was in a beech wood so close 

 to the public highway that the plants could easily be seen from it. 



