igij. Moffat. — Losses to a Local Flora. 159 



singular disappearance of all has been that of the Yellow- 

 wort (Chlora perfoliata) ; for this species, though confined 

 to dry, upland pastures, used to abound in such localities, 

 as far back as my memory extends. When it began to 

 decline 1 cannot sa^^, as I was little in this part of the country 

 between the years 1902 and 1915 ; but in that interval 

 the Yellow-wort vanished. The same is true of the Fel- 

 wort (Gentiana Amarella), a frequent companion of the 

 Yellow-wort, though a good deal less common. A third 

 species of the B group — the Marjoram (Origanum vulgar e) 

 died out during the same period in the only spot within a 

 three-mile radius of Ballyhyland where I had known it to 

 exist, though the ground where it grew— and had grown for 

 at least 35 years prior to 1902 — had certainly not been 

 subjected to any disturbance. A fourth loss prior to 

 1915 was that of the only Calcicole A plant that could ever 

 have been claimed for our local flora (discarding mere 

 casuals like Galeopsis angusti folia) : namely, Orchis pyrami- 

 dalis, whose presence in a little grove of spruce-firs at 

 Caim had always seemed a bit of a mystery— though the 

 fact that the only known locality for the Marjoram was 

 little more than 200 yards distant may suggest that the soil 

 was here a trifle more favourable to calcicoles than that of 

 the district generally. The dying out of both species 

 would, however, similarly suggest that by this time the 

 favourable properties in the soil must have been exhausted. 



In addition to the four plants mentioned I am afraid 

 that a fifth calcicole has disappeared in the Mountain 

 Cudweed (Antennaria dioica) which I failed to find, this 

 year and last year, in an old habitat not half-way up Black- 

 stairs ; but as I had not marked the spot in former years 

 with proper exactness the fault in the case of this species 

 may be mine. The Banewort (Sambucus Ebulus) also 

 shows a tendency to die out ; but as its principal stations 

 were sites of former cottages it is scarcely a case in point. 



The calcicole species that remain in our flora are now so 

 few that they are worth enumerating. Only six are 

 common : — Pimpinella Saxifraga, Tussilago Farfara, Thrin- 

 Qta hirta, Carex glanca, Trisetum flavescens, and Ceterach 



