Dr Murray on the Botany of Alford. 14j5 



plain, marsh and stream ; and, without undue confidence, it may be said, that 

 few or none of the native plants can have escaped me. 



" Atqui nee herba, nee latens in asperis 

 Radix fefellit me locis." 



I have been at some loss as to how specific I ought to be regarding places 

 in which particular plants are found, as it may be deemed useless to mention 

 many stations, all of them unknown to most of those into whose hands this 

 paper may fall. At the same time, supposing it possible that the memoir 

 may be thought of some service to vegetable geography, it is necessary that 

 those who peruse it receive some information of the frequency with which the 

 plants to be named are found. After consideration, I have inserted the sta- 

 tions only of those plants which Smith or Hooker consider so rare as to have 

 given their habitats, and of such as are rare in Alford. Where no observa- 

 tion is made, it is to be considered that there is nothing remarkable in the de- 

 gree of frequency with which the plant is met with. 



MONANDRIA MONOGYNIA. 



Hippuris vtdgaris, mare's tail ; Cfiara mdgaria^ common chara. Of these neither 

 is common. The first is found in the moss at Balphlig, parish of Alford ; 

 the chara near Tullyfour, in Tough, and in Lochell. 



DiANDRIA MONOGYNIA. 



Veronica serpyllifolia^ thyme-leaved speedwell ; V. scuiellata, marsh speedwell ; 

 V. officinalis^ common speedwell ; V. Beccabunga, brooklime ; V. Chamadrys^ 

 germander speedwell ; V. agrestis^ procumbent speedwell. Of these, V. 

 scutellata is found occasionally in ditches at road-sides. All the others are 

 common. PinguictUa vulgaris^ butter-wort ; Utricularia vulgaris^ greater 

 hooded milfoil, in the moss at Balphlig, but not common, and never, I 

 think, bearing flowers. Lemna minor, lesser duck-weed. 



DiANDRIA DiGYNIA. 



Anthoxanthum odoraturru, sweet-scented spring-grass. 



Triandria Monogynia. 



Valeriana officinalis, great wild valerian. 



• Fedia olitoria, lamb's lettuce ; Iris Pseudacorus, yellow water iris ; in the up- 

 per part of the parish of Alford, but perhaps the rarest plant in the dis- 

 trict. Scirpus caspitostis, scaly-stalked club-rush ; not very abundant. S. 

 palustrisy marsh club-rush.* S. setaceus, setaceous club-rush; rather spa- 

 ringly distributed. Eriophorum vaginatum, hare's-tail cotton-grass. Near 

 the foot of Bennochie, and no where else in Alford. E. angusHfolium, com- 

 mon cotton-grass. Nardus stricta, mat-grass. 



Triandria Digynia. 



Alopecurus pratensis, meadow fiox-tail grass ; Phalaris arundinacea, reed canary- 



frass ; Phleum pratense^ common cat's-tail grass ; Agrostis cavina, brown 

 ent-grass ; A. vulgaris, fine bent-grass ; A. vulgaris /3 (with short awns) ; 



* When there is the least reason for supposing that the plant is not truly native, but originally 

 perhaps an outcast from a gardoi, I have, as in the case above, prefixed an asterisk. 



OCTOBER DECEMBER 1828. K 



