A BOTANICAL TOUR THROUGH SOUTH WALES, &c. 207 



Whoever botanizes with me must with me digress ; for, as the Sea-mew, winging 

 with shrill cry round and round in the air, still stoops to the element from which 

 she sprung, and anon rests upon the restless wave, so must I, in the spectacle 

 Nature presents to the unscientific eye, at intervals revel, if it be but to show that 

 the botanist is not merely the picker up of the " unconsidered trifles " in general 

 supposed,* but that in fact the philosopher may not be ashamed to derive some 

 of his happiest illustrations from botanical subjects. But I must again to work, 

 and present the following plants as falling under my notice principally at the 

 eastern part of the Cromlyn morass, and in its boundary ditches, for I found it 

 impracticable to pierce the centre without absolute danger, and in case of accident 

 no assistance appeared near at hand. 



^Hypericum elodes.. In a trench between the morass and the canal, where 



the bog can be crossed. 

 *Rubus auberectus. On the side of the same trench in hussocky spots. 

 *Comarum palustre. Very abundant and luxuriant in various parts of the 



bog, its dark purple flowers giving it a strange aspect. 

 Menyanthes trifoliata. A general concomitant of the Welsh bogs, from an alti- 

 tude of upwards of 2,000 feet down to the sea-level, where I here observed 

 it. Of course it is less luxuriant in the Alpine stations, where it does 

 not seem to flower very freely. Its fringed blossoms have often been the 

 theme of admiration, and deservedly so. 

 Lysimachia vulgaris. By no means common, as its names implies, and a great 

 ornament to the side of any stream of water where its brilliant yellow 

 panicled clusters glitter in the sun. This plant varies considerably in 

 its aspect, and hence I conceive the report of L. punctata having been 

 found in Britain has arisen. I gathered a specimen in a damp place by 

 the side of a wood at Neath with the leaves whorled in fours, their under 

 side and the stem and peduncles very downy. The leaves and their 

 margins were minutely spotted with what appear to be small hard red 

 glands, when held to the light and examined with a lens. I would not 

 venture to affirm this to be L. punctata, but perhaps a similar plant has 

 been taken for it. 

 Samolus valerandi. Abundant in marshy spots between the canal and the sea. 

 One of the few cosmopolitan plants, having been found in Africa and 

 Australia, whence no one would take the trouble to transport it. 



* It is the common fault of botanists, and indeed of scientific naturalists in general, to be too 

 exclusively absorbed in what they are pleased to consider the most important of earthly pursuits. 

 It is not a little amusing to observe the total absence of poetry in many recent popular as well as 

 scientific treatises on the subject— as if Natural History and Poetry had been doomed, by some 

 immutable law, to remain for ever separate !— Ed. 



