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BOTANICAL NOTES OF A TOUE IN CAITHNESS AND 



SUTHERLAND, JULY, 1885. 

 By the Eev. H. E. Fox, M.A., and Frederick J. Hanbury, F.L.S. 



To the ordinary tourist Caithness does not present a promising 

 field for floral search. The long stretch of wet moorland through 

 which the railway passes is only succeeded hy the fringe of coast- 

 cultivation, even less picturesque than the other, and both without 

 a tree or hedgerow to break the monotony of flatness. The flag- 

 stones which mark the divisions of the fields in severely regular 

 lines are not suggestive of much but agricultural economy. The 

 elevation of the greater part is slight, and the sluggish streams 

 which drain the peat-bogs of the central area are quite unlike the 

 brawling burns which the traveller crosses on his northward journey. 

 The district, however, is not without its botanical riches. 



The county of Dick could not fail of interest to fellow lovers of 

 Nature. An evening stroll along the banks of the Thurso River 

 did not yield us the Hierochlue, which grows almost opposite the 

 spot where the Caithness naturalist lies buried. The plant is at all 

 times difficult to be found, and has probably suffered at the hands 

 of collectors ; its season, too, was long past ; a single head, how- 

 ever, was gathered about three weeks before our arrival by Mr. A. H. 

 Bremner, of Thurso, which he kindly gave us. Juncus balticiis, Carex 

 aquatilis var. Watsimi and C. ampuUacea were abundant along the 

 margin of the stream. Vicia si/lvatica was growing on the grassy 

 banks opposite the cemetery, the only locality in which we noticed 

 it in either county. Trull ius europmis, which is fi-equent everywhere 

 in the two counties, adorned the meadow herbage. Viola tricolor 

 and Anchxisa arrensis were the characteristic weeds of the cultivated 

 soil, with SiJenjida arrensis and LamiiDii amplexicanle. L. purpureum 

 and L. interinediuni were also common ; but L. album was not seen, 

 and is said not to grow in the county. Cariim. Car id occurred as a 

 casual by the road-side near Thurso, but was abundant, and had all 

 the appearance of being native further west, on sand-hills at the 

 mouth of Strathalladale. The sand-hills of Murkle Bay produced 

 Cakile maritima, Cerastium tetrayidruin, Elijmus arenaritcs, flowering 

 abundantly, and other common maritime plants ; and where the 

 ground was wet, Pamassia palustris, Primula veris, Pinyuicula 

 vuli/aris, and Orchis latifolia grew almost down to the sea ; the latter 

 was especially fine and abundant, and with its deep crimson flowers 

 was one of the most conspicuous plants of the neighbourhood in 

 almost every field and ditch. SciUa verna is common on all the 

 grassy headlands. 



Taking the train to Bilbster, we crossed a short piece of wet 

 moorland which surrounds the shallow and boggy Loch Winless. 

 Aira pracox and A. cari/oiiJn/llca abound on all the drier spots, as 

 leverywhere on the peat-soil through the two counties. Hippuris 

 vidf/aris, Comarum palustre, Veronica scntellata, Catabrusa aquatica, 

 and Chara fragilis were noted in ditches at the head of the lake. 

 In the lake itself the most interesting plant was Xuphar piimila, 

 not easy of access on account of the treacherous but Lorn of thick 



