220 Gelehrte Gesellschaften. 



feet, and kindly sent from Kew, hat shown itself a very rapid grower, out- 

 stripping R. nobile in thia particular. R o y 1 e , in his Illustrations of Indian 

 Botany, vol. IL, p. 315, speaks of this Rheum as being superior for its 

 purgative properties, and says, „Mr. Moorcroft sent me some Rhubarb which 

 for compactness of texture, colour, and properties, was as fine as any I have 

 ever seen, from near Ladak in N. lat 34^ and E. long. 771/20". As this is a 

 very cold region, the plant should be hardy in our climate. 



A plant of Veronica chathamica, a native of the Chatham Islands, near 

 New Zealand, had been raised from seeds sent from the latter country. 

 Though not yet recorded in any of our botanical works, it has been cultiv- 

 ated by Mr. Travers in his garden at Wellington, where the profusion of 

 its dark flowers and prostrate habit have proved it a most showy addition 

 in ornamenting rockwork or earth-banks. It is a small prostrate shrub, with 

 wiry branches. The racemes are few or many. The flowers are numerous, 

 closely set, peduncles half an inch long, corolla large, dark purple. Veronica 

 anomala , a tiny alpine shrub , gathered at an elevation of 3000 feet , had 

 been also raised from seed got from New Zealand, and has not yet been 

 recorded in botanical works. Sir Joseph Hooker, New Zealand Flora, 

 p. 213, has described Veronica Haastii as a tortuous decumbent shrub, with 

 flowers sessile and in pairs, but the corolla not seen. This and V. epacridea 

 are most remarkable plants, of a different habit from any hitherto described. 

 Only young plants of this species were on the table. A specimen of V. 

 Kirkii (Armstrong), another alpine , with an elevation of from 3000 to 4000 

 feet, was also exhibited. V. lycopodioides, a young plant, was so small that 

 Mr. Henry hesitated to lay it before the meeting. It looks more like a 

 moss than an Phsenogam, yet Sir Joseph Hooker describes it (New Zea- 

 land Flora, p. 211) as an erect (?), much branched, stout shrub, havingleaves 

 most densely and closely 4-fariously imbricate, having flowers sessile, in small 

 dense oblong heads at the ends of the branches. But altogether Sir Joseph's 

 description is in all its particulars so disconform to the plant Mr. Henry 

 had raised from seed received with this name, that he hesitated as to its 

 correctness. Yet these New Zealand things undergo such singular trans- 

 formations that the plant exhibited, still in babyhood, may yet realise the 

 description Sir Joseph gives of it. Wahlenbergia saxicola , the Bluebell of 

 New Zealand, also exhibited, is fully described in the Handbook of the New 

 Zealand Flora. It is an alpine and subalpine species, going up to an elevation 

 of 6000 feet; it must therefore be quite hardy with us, though it had not 

 yet been tried out all winter at Hay Lodge. 



IV. Mr. Symington Grieve read some notes on the flora of the 

 Islands of Colonsay and Oronsay, two connected islets of the Hebrides, with 

 a list of plants coUected during May and August, 1880, and June, 1881, 

 supplementary to a list of the flora of the same locality, already published 

 in the transactions. The Vegetation rather lacked variety. The author was 

 inclined to account for this on the geological hypotheses ofthe Islands having 

 passed through an intense glacial cold period, as they exhibited marks of 

 striation throughout their entire area. This also might account for the 

 absence of vipers, toads, and frogs. Though against this reasoning was the 

 finding of the stumps of immense trees on the shores of Loch Fada and cut 

 down by the early inhabitants for fuel, as peat is so scarce on the plains. 

 Pines which have been introduced, with few exceptions, do not thrive, but 

 other trees flourish, including a number of rare Himalayan shrubs and trees 

 on the grounds of Colonsay House. 



The author gratefully acknowledged assistance in the work of identi- 

 fication from Mr. H. C. Watson, and the late Mr. F. M. Webb, and from 

 Mr. C h a s. G. H o b k i r k , of Huddersfield , in respect to mosses. Though 

 none of the plants enumerated are specially rare , still some are not very 

 common in Scotland, and seem to reach here nearly their northern limit. 

 Thus, Hypericum elodes, Scutellaria galericulata and minor, are quite abundant. 

 A new Station for Orchis pyramidalis, besides the one previously noted on 

 Colonsay as unique for the West of Scotland, was discovered. This plant 

 does not appear to come up every year, as last season not a Single specimen 

 could be gathered at the Colonsay atation, though this year it may be 



