174 



HARD WICKE 'S S CIENCE- GOSSIP. 



town a few weeks afterwards, mainly to rest and 

 enjoy the scenery, so that scientific work of any kind 

 was a secondaiy object ; nevertheless we recorded a 

 few plants during some most enjoyable and long 

 rambles, some notes of which may be acceptable to 

 readers of SciENCE-Gossir. 



Starting off one morning fgr Abermaw (by cor- 

 ruption changed to Barmouth), we found upon an 

 old wall just ouLside the ioww Hypericum montanum, 

 dwarfed by position, one of the legs common St. 

 John's worts ; and not long afterwards came across 

 Hypericum humifusitm, a smaller and less rigid 

 species ; while growing upon the first old wall, and 

 nearly everywhere on walls and rocks, was a profuse 

 quantity of Cotyledon Umbilicus (some racemes being 

 of gigantic proportions), and of Scdum anglicum, 

 with its matted and pretty flowers of white and pink, 

 growing in the driest of places : this latter a plant, 

 by the way, that seems to dislike the less pure air of 

 more inland counties. At about one mile from the 

 town, on left of the road, field near the private road 

 to Doluwch-cogryd, I found in flower on my second 

 visit some fine examples of Epilobium telragonuin, so 

 attractive with its long flower-stems, very profuse in 

 this instance, of a deep and rich rose-colour, consti- 

 tuting a very showy wild flower. Presently at 

 Llanelltyd Bridge ws: were arrested by sheets of 

 colour bespreading the tidal meadows, v/here the Sea 

 Pink, Armeria maritima, flourished in great masses, 

 nearly acres in extent, imparting a more rich and 

 beautiful aspect to a spot peculiarly charming in 

 picturesque features ; where Cader Idris 'assumes a 

 grand outline, and the Mawddach river comes down 

 between far folds of purple mountains. Here also, 

 in damp spots, are great clumps of Iris Pscudacorus, 

 which drew the eye by their masses of gold, in 

 certain spots, between which flat habitats the tide 

 here and there insinuates itself, running up the river 

 and its arms as far as the bridge, when higher than 

 usual. Passing on, we diverged from the road 

 several times, striking some distance up the hillsides, 

 or staying to explore some of the side streams 

 leaping down sonorously among the woods. Car- 

 peting the ground of these woods in some places 

 Allium Ampcloprasum had gained mastery over 

 other plants, really pi-etty in its delicate white 

 flowers, but assailing the nose fearfully ; while in a 

 few spots the yellow Cow-wheat, PJelampyrum pra- 

 tense, reigned supreme, partly in flowei', — a plant one 

 sometimes may travel a long way to see a single 

 specimen, but wJien found generally very abundant 

 at that spot : when dried, its dusky name explains 

 itself. Among the soft ancient turf, in green open 

 spots bordering hillside rocks, the golden hue of 

 small Potentilhe was blended with various shades of 

 blue from Polygala vulgaris, the latter here and 

 there also of a pure white ; while at foot of some 

 rocks in one spot we found one of tlie rarer Ranunculi, 

 probably lingua, not far removed from a group of 



remarkably fine ScropJmlaiia nodosa, with some 

 leaves of a strikingly rich bronzy colour, the latter 

 not 3-et in flower. Here and there on our way to 

 Abermaw, we found Silene inflata, Euphrasia offici- 

 nalis (very frequent), Chclidonium majus (scarce), 

 Brassica campestris, Plypericum quad?'angulum, and 

 Epilobium montanum ; and upon rocks at Abermaw 

 some very richly-blue specimens of Scabiosa succisa, 

 as we determined, but far deeper in colour than 

 usual, possibly from the sea air. 



Upon crossing the long railway bridge and re- 

 turning upon the opposite side of the estuary, we had 

 small time for botany, as evening began to settle 

 upon the mountains, but observed that wherever the 

 turf had been cut from off the peat-beds, abundance 

 of the pretty Cotton-sedge, Eriopltormu polystachyon, 

 had sprung up after a year or so had passed, its 

 graceful glumes waving in the breeze and tempting 

 the hand by their whiteness ; the seeds evidently 

 enduring long burial in the peat. Some good and 

 probably raix kinds of sedges and grasses prevailed 

 in peaty drains near the railway, but for these time 

 failed us. As we sped along in the deepening 

 twilight we could descry some large masses of the 

 grand white Waterlily, Nympluva alba, coating the 

 surface of a little lonely tarn, nestling under the 

 woods, near Garth Anghared. 



I will now recount some plants noted during three 

 or four rambles upon Cader Idris, including two 

 ascents of that grand wall of rock, one by way of the 

 Foxes' path, returning down the pony track — greatly 

 enjoyed with my friend before-mentioned, a. most 

 delightful companion at once humorous and scien- 

 tific ; one by way of Geu Graig, when alone I took 

 the five principal peaks of the mountain and walked 

 nearly from end to end ; also including Mynydd 

 Gader, that long ridge of rocks that is really part of 

 Cader, though by a wild upland moor stands some- 

 what apart, as you discover when upon it. First I 

 would observe that upon this moor, in rock-bound 

 cups of peaty water, I found large masses of that rare 

 plant Lobelia Dortmanni, then only beginning to 

 flower, just showing a lilac bloom here and there, 

 but mostly the plant submerged, growing in water of 

 a certain depth, and there monopolizing nearly all 

 space on the rocky bottom of the tarnlets, to coin a 

 word. Sighted about the same locality, in less 

 thoroughly watery habitats, but in wet peat, the 

 beautifully-divided leaves of Pedicularis palustris 

 showed themselves, a plant memorable for strong 

 upright growth, fern-shaped leaf, and for its large 

 crimson-jDurple flowers, all quickly dying away into 

 a black mass early in autumn. Here also, and at 

 several spots, on high mossy and wet spaces, all 

 about the lower ridges of Cader, I found great plenty 

 of Pinguicula vulgaris, associated with those other 

 and more remarkable flesh-consuming plants Drosera 

 rotundifolia and intermedia, whereon numerous flies 

 were caught, some struggling still in the toils of the 



