1 82 The Scottish Naturalist. 



For details as to Don's plant, see Scottish Naturalist, 1883-84, 

 p. 264, by Mr. Druce; and Mr. Ridley's article in Journal of Botany, 

 1885, pp. 1-3, with a plate. 



As Dr. B. White of Perth observes in a letter, " it is not a species 

 (looking at the distribution in Nyman) that I should have expected 

 there." Still, its places of growth are scattered in a peculiar and 

 erratic manner over Europe, so that too much must not perhaps be 

 made of this. 



JOTOtfS ALPINUS AS A BEITISH PLANT 

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



FOR the past two years Juncus alpinus has been a weight upon 

 my mind. Rumours had reached me that one or two old 

 examples of a rush in certain herbaria were probably referable to 

 Juncus alpinus; at the same time there seemed to be no botanist 

 bold enough to give a definite opinion upon the subject. Now as 

 one of these dubious specimens came from Perthshire this was an 

 eminently unsatisfactory state of matters ; and it behoved Perthshire 

 botanists to try to settle the question by discovering the plant. 



Through the kindness of my friend Mr. Bennett, who furnished 

 foreign examples from his herbarium, the aspect of the species was 

 not altogether unfamiliar, a point of considerable importance in 

 looking for a rush of the u articulatus y ' group. Armed with this 

 knowledge, every likely looking rush met with in our excursions has 

 been examined, but without result till August of this year. On 

 August 4th, Messrs. Barclay and Meldrum joined me in exploring a 

 hill near Pitlochry; and there, amongst Juncus lamprocarpos, I 

 found a rush which appeared to be more like Juncus alpinus than 

 any previously examined. On comparing it, however, with the 

 foreign specimens no definite decision could be arrived at, owing 

 perhaps to the dwarfness and immaturity of the Pitlochry examples. 

 So, having put a plant in the garden, the search was continued. 



.About ten days after this Mr. James Brebner sent me some rushes 

 from near Killin, and amongst these were three panicles of what 

 appeared, without doubt, to be Juncus alpinus. They were, however, 

 in flower only; and, as it was desirable to see capsules, I asked my 

 friend to try to find more specimens, which up to the present time 

 he has not been successful in doing. 



