222 OS THE BOTANY AROUND ABERDOVEY. 



and last, thougli not least, the Scutellaria ininor, (Lesser Skull-cap.) This 

 latter I found scarcely in flower, and though it was evidently abundant in the 

 spot it had chosen for its habitat, still only a few specimens were in flower. 

 Over all these hills the Erica cinerea, (Fine-leaved Heath,) and Ulex Europoeus, 

 (Common Furze,) interwoven, as it were, with the common Galium verum, 

 (Yellow Bed-straw,) are the predominant show- flowers. 



In descending the heights we come upon an old slate quarry, and here 

 the Silene inflata, (Bladder Campion,) Echiimi vulgare, (Common Viper's But^loss,) 

 Sedum Telephiinn, (Orpine,) Verhascum Thapsus, Great Mullein,) with still 

 commoner plants, reign supreme. Upon old walls, Sedurn Anglicum; (English 

 Stonecrop,) flourishes plentifully. It is an excessively pretty plant, with purple 

 anthers. Every hedge exhibits the Lonicera Peridymenum (Common Honey- 

 suckle,) and every hedge-row the Digitalis purpurea, (Purple Foxglove,) in 

 great abundance. 



On the left hand side, some three miles along the Machynlleth road, is a 

 steep stony embankment. The notice of the passer-by is at once attracted 

 to it by the extreme beauty of the Garduus nutans, (Musk Thistle.) This 

 Thistle grows to an extraordinary size there, and its large purple heads make 

 it a most striking plant. Here I found Linaria spuria, (Round-leaved Toad- 

 flax,) Galium saxatile, (Smooth Heath Bed-straw,) Hypericum humifusum,, 

 (Trailing St. John-wort,) and H. perforatum, (Common Perforated St. John- 

 wort,) growing plentifully. 



But I must bring my notes to a close by passing hastily over the sand- 

 plains that run along the beach; and, in the first place, the common Potentilla 

 anserina must be mentioned. I believe the inhabitants of Aberdovey owe a 

 far deeper debt of gratitude to this simple weed than they have any idea of; 

 and for this reason : — The sands about the village are very shifting, and upon 

 a windy day a very great inconvenience. This "silver-weed" prevents an intol- 

 erable miisance by binding whole acres together with its wide- spreading rhizomes, 

 and by its soft flat- lying leaves. A fortnight ago entire acres of sand pre- 

 sented the appearance of one vast expanse of the most brilliant yellow — the 

 plant adds beauty to its usefulness. Examining these sand-plains more closely, 

 the little Glaux maritim^a, (Sea Milk-wort,) may be found very plentifully; 

 Sagina nodosa, (Knotted Pearl-wort,) is also a common weed. Across the 

 Dovey, the sand-hillocks abound with Euphorbia paralia, (Sea Spurge;) yet 

 on the Aberdovey side I have not met with a single specimen. 



In this hasty sketch I have aimed at conveyipg merely a general idea of 

 the plants about Aberdovey. I trust I may not have been tedious to any of 

 the readers of "The Naturalist." I am still at work in North Wales, and, 

 at some future time, may send a few more notes of my labour, if ^^labour" 

 be the correct term for such pleasurable occupation. 



Towyn, MerionetTisliire, August, 1853. 



{To be continiud.) 



