The Scottish Naturalist. i z z 



jj 



past participle of pita, to be fat, juicy. From pina, comes Latin, 

 piniis, and the Gaelic, pin. 



P. sylvestris — Scotch pine, Scots fir. Gaelic : giuthas, 

 giubhas. 



" Mar giubhas a liib an doinionn." — Ossian. 

 Like a pine bent by the storm. 



Giiithas, probably from the same root as picea, pitch pine. Sans- 

 krit : pish, soft, juicy. Gaelic : giubhas, a juicy tree, — from the 

 abundance of pitch or resin its wood contains ; con or cona 

 (O'Reilly), from Greek : x wj/ °s? konos. a cone, a pine. Hence 

 conadh, fire-wood. Fir in English, from Greek, irvp, fire, because 

 good for fire. 



Badge of the Macgregors — Clan Alpin. 



{To be continued.) J 



PRELIMINARY LIST OF THE FLOWERING PLANTS AND 



FERNS OF PERTHSHIRE. 



By F. BUCHANAN WHITE, M.D., F.L.S. 



AS some of our readers are doubtless aware, a Flora of 

 Perthshire has been in preparation for some years, 

 and, in fact, might ere now have been published had it been 

 thought advisable. As, however, every year sees additions 

 to our knowledge of the indigenous flora, there has been a 

 not unnatural desire to delay the publication, the more espe- 

 cially as some parts of fhe county still remain virtually unex- 

 plored. With a view, therefore, to rendering our knowledge 

 more complete, and to show more particularly in what groups 

 it is most defective, we now publish a preliminary list of the 

 flowering plants and vascular cryptogams. This list is not more 

 than what its title imports. For the Flora itself will be reserved 

 all the information that has been collected regarding the distri- 

 bution of the plants in area and altitude, their local names, 

 uses, &c. In the same work due credit will be given to all who 

 have assisted in the elucidation of the flora. 



But before beginning the list, it will be desirable to devote a 

 few lines to a brief description of the area whose indigenous 

 plants are to be enumerated. The county of Perth, then, con- 

 tains about 2000 square miles, and varies in altitude from sea- 

 level to close upon 4000 feet above Ordnance datum. Geolo- 



