2:^ TRANSACTIONS, NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY OF GLASGOW. 



weed appears to be steadily gaining ground in the 

 vicinity of the city, as it is now to be found in a 

 good many places. It is certainly not uncommon. 



Senecio saracenicus still grows in abundance in the 

 station which Hopkirk quotes on the authority of 

 Dr. Brown : " In a small island in the Clyde, a little 

 below Both well Bridge." We would now, however, 

 scarcely call the place an island, though it is almost 

 one. The plant appears to be thoroughly naturalised 

 in the district, occurring in several stations. It was 

 probably originally introduced on account of its 

 reputation as a valuable styptic. 



Achillea tomenfosa seems to have been regarded 

 by Hopkirk as a rare native plant. He gives as a 

 station for it, "Spittle Hill, to the north-west of 

 Balvie." He adds a note : " This plant, new to 

 Britain, was discovered some time since by the 

 gardener at Balvie, in the situation mentioned 

 above, and since, it has been found on the hills 

 in the neighbourhood of Paisley. . . . Since 

 writing the above, this plant has been figured 

 in Eng. Bot. from specimens sent from this, and 

 more recently from Ireland." This Woolly Yellow- 

 Yarrow is not indigenous, and has quite disap- 

 peared from the district. It is a native of the 

 Tyrolese Alps, and was formerly much cultivated 

 as a medicinal plant and for its beauty. This, you 

 will observe, is another introduced plant occurring 

 near Balvie. 



Centaurea Cyanus (the Corn-flower) is an additional 

 instance of a weed that seems to have been more 

 frequently found in cultivated fields in Hopkirk's 

 time than now. It is exceedingly rare as a weed 

 about Glasgow, although it is cultivated in gardens 

 as an annual. The same explanation which I have 

 ventured to give in other cases appears to apply in 

 this one also. Centaurea Scahiosa does not occur at 

 all in the district except as a casual. 



His list of the Orchidacece lacks 3falaxis, which 

 even yet appears to have been found only once within 



