170 NOTES OF A TOUR IN N. SCOTLAND. 



Bennett writes as follows about a plant which we found growing 

 sparingly in shade on the coast below Coalbackie, near Tongue : — 

 " This seems to be var. amjustifolium Meyer = G. infestum Waldst. 

 & Kit. Norman records it from Arctic Norway." G. infestum is 

 identified by Nyman with G. Vaillantii DC, which our specimens 

 closely resemble in their narrow leaves and patent inflorescence ; 

 but the flowers are white and the fruits few — perhaps not a fatal 

 objection, as the plants are by no means luxuriant. A strong, 

 prostrate, large -fruited form of G. Aparine abounds on the shingly 

 beach at Thurso. 



Scabiosa ar>!emis L. 108. A beautiful form with white blossoms 

 occurs in small quantity at Melness ; the type is abundant there, 

 as well as about Farr Bay, near Betty Hill. 



Filago minima L. 107. Golspie Links ; plentiful near the head 

 of Loch Fleet, on sandy ground and railway ballast. 



Achillea Millefolium L. var. lanata Koch (1837). 109. Scrabster; 

 jusc Mr. Beeby's Shetland plant. Mr. Bennett suggests that this 

 may be the same as var. villosum Hartman, Hand. Sk. Fl. ed. 1, 

 p. 419 (1820). 



Artemisia vulgaris L. var. coarctata (Forselles). 108. Melness 

 Sands. The clothing is much more woolly than in the common 

 plant of S.E. England, but its habit does not differ appreciably. 

 Probably this Sutherlandshire plant may be typical coarctata, which 

 Nyman localizes as "Bait, litor." 



Arctium nemorosum Bab. 107.''' Coast between Brora and 

 Golspie, scarce. "Query, whether of Lejeune ? But I believe it 

 is, and that Lange, Konicke &c. are wrong in referring our plant lo 

 intermedium'' ( Ar. Bennett, in Hit.). A. minus Bernh. was seen in two 

 or three stations near Tongue. 



Centaurea ? 108. f A handsome knapweed was found in 



considerable quantity among the sandhills below Coalbackie, on the 

 E. side of Tongue Bay, and quite sparingly near Melness, on the 

 W. side, associated with C. nigra and great abundance of C. Scabiosa, 

 which is also very plentiful on slopes S.E. of Farr. Bay. In its 

 usual form this is a yard or more in height, few- (1-4, usually 2-) 

 flowered, with long peduncles ; leaves of a light clear green, entire 

 or somewhat obscurely crenate-dentate, the lowest with a blade 

 about 4 in. long and 1^ in. or more in its greatest breadth, gradually 

 narrowed into a petiole of almost its own length, which (as well 

 as the midrib and principal nerves beneath) is more or less hispid 

 with crisped white hairs. The uppermost leaves are subsessile. 

 The heads differ but little from C. Scabiosa, of which it has the 

 radiant florets, and which is certainly its nearest ally. At Melness 

 it is accompanied by a smaller form, little more than a foot high, 

 the leaves being lanceolate, darker green, and quite entire ; we do 

 not think that these can be kept apart. The only example in the 

 large general collection at Cromwell Road which at all closely 

 approaches this Sutherlandshire plant is one from dry wood-borders, 

 Leopoldsruhe, near Lienz (S.E. Tirol), on schistose soil at 2300- 

 2400 ft., legit Gander, 1871 ; it was sent out with a typical speci- 

 men, and is labelled merely " C. Scabiosa, L." Koch remarks (Syn. 



