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Notice of a new Scottish Locality for the Linnaa horealis. By 

 John S. Bushnan, Esq. Member of the Royal Medical 

 and Plinian Societies of Edinburgh. Communicated by th^ 

 Author. * 



It were needless to give a description of the Linnsea borealis, 

 as such is to be found in almost every botanical work ; suffice it 

 to say, it is of the class Didynamia, order Angiospermia, and 

 the natural order Aggregatae of Linnaeus, the Caprifoliacea^ of 

 Jussieu. 



The flowers of the Linnsea are said, in the Flora Suecica, to 

 be very fragrant at night, smelling like the meadow-sweet. Its 

 leaves have a bitter sub-astringent taste, and are used, in some 

 places, in the form of fomentation for rheumatic pains. An in- 

 fusion of them is esteemed among the Swedes as a specific in 

 sciatica ; and the inhabitants of West Bothnia cure painful com- 

 plaints in the feet of their sheep, with a cataplasm of this plant. 

 The smoke of it, when burnt, is thought by the Norwegians to 

 be beneficial in scarlet fever, and they use a decoction of it in 

 psora. 



There is only one known species of the Linnaea. Sir Joseph 

 Banks had a drawing by an artist who was employed to deline- 

 ate plants in India, which represents a plant answering to the 

 same generic characters ; but of which no specimens have ever 

 been seen. The drawing is supposed to be a forgery : the 

 younger Linnaeus, when in England, was much interested by 

 the sight of it, but endeavoured in vain to ascertain its truth. 



The known localities of the Linnaea borealis in Britain, are 

 confined, almost solely, to the northern half of what is called the 

 middle division of Scotland, in which there is many a likely 

 shade, still unexplored by the botanist, where the Linnaea may 

 have been yearly " born to blush unseen"" by his curious eye, 



tached, with its back downmost, to the wire-trellis, or to one of the cords by 

 which the sashes were moved, so that it was probably in an uneasy position. 

 When removed from its lofty situation, at the time of giving or taking off 

 air, the gardener observed that it acquired its usual green colour in two or 

 three minutes." — Edit. 



• Read before the Plinian Society, January 13. 1829. 



