THOMAS HOPKIRK OF DALBETS. 219 



assuming, as I have done in other cases, that with 

 seed-corn thoroughly winnowed, poppy seeds are 

 seldom sown, and that in our unfavourable soil it 

 had never become properly naturalised. With the 

 hand of the sower no longer scattering abroad its 

 seeds unintentionally, it has ceased to bloom. Papaver 

 dubiuin is not now perhaps more abundant than in 

 1813, but as the other has virtually withdrawn from 

 competition, it takes our attention more. 



The yellow Water-Lily and the white one were 

 alike frequent in our lochs; but Nuphar puTuila was 

 not then known to occur in the district, and was 

 first discovered by Mr. George Gardiner in some of 

 the small lochs round Glasgow many years later. In 

 a note, however, Hoj)kirk says: "A new British 

 species has been lately discovered by M. Borrer in 

 the lake on Ben Cruachan, and published in English 

 Botany under the name NujjJiar niinima." This is 

 the plant we now know as Nuphar pumila. 



Heliantheinuni vidc/are, the Rock Rose, is still un- 

 common in the district; but is found in dry pastures 

 and banks occasionally, as in Hopkirk's time. 



Thalictrum flavinn is the only species of Meadow- 

 Rue that grows near Glasgow. He records it for 

 " the banks of the Clyde at Dalbeth and Bowling 

 Bay." It still grows at no great distance from 

 Dalbeth, and at a recent meeting of the Society a 

 station near Bowling was re^Dorted. 



Of Ranunculus all the species yet recorded appear 

 to have then been found in the district except R. 

 Lingua. This conspicuous plant, though rare in 

 Clydesdale generally, is now abundant in Fossil 

 Marsh. I can hardly conceive that Hopkirk could 

 have omitted it had it then grown in the marsh, 

 especially as he had it in his garden at Dalbeth at 

 the time when he published his Flora Glottiana. I 

 think we must assume that it has been introduced 

 there through the medium of the canal, and this 

 opinion is strengthened by what Patrick says of it 

 in 1831 : " By the bank of the great canal near 



