OBSKRVATIONS. 



159 



multij)]y enormously. Of this I 

 have proof positive, having planted 

 in my garden a fragment of it two 

 years ago ; it now occupies a large 

 space and had this season a profu- 

 sion of leaves, stems, and blossoms. 

 I should like to see the history of 

 this little plant recorded from its 

 English localities. Is there any 

 contributor to the "Naturalist " who 

 knows any thing certain about its 

 English habitats ? Perth is cer- 

 tainly remarkable for rare plants, 

 how such a number of beautiful and 

 interesting flowers could have be- 

 come established in this neighbour- 

 hood is to me a perfect mystery. To 

 believe they are all indigenous may 

 to many seem quite preposterous, to 

 belie'-e they have all been introduced 

 seems to me even more absurd ; 

 especially as no motive whatever can 

 reasonably be alleged for their in- 

 troduction. The beautiful and fra- 

 grant Wallflower is by many believed 

 not to be indigenous to any part of 

 the British Isles. Here it adorns 

 the rugged and precipitous cliffs of 

 Kinnoul Hill in great profusion in 

 early summer, dispensing fragrance 

 and beauty all around. I maintain 

 that no unprejudiced observer can 

 view the Wallflower on the rocks at 

 Kionnul Hill and affirm that it could 

 have been introduced by human 

 agency ; such a supposition is directly 

 opposed to reason, because where 

 this lovely plant grows most largely 



human foot never did nor can tread. 

 The same remark is applicable to 

 Autlrrh'mum mnjus, which also occu- 

 pies the face of the rugged clifihigh 

 in air beyond the reach of human 

 hand. These are facts not to 1 e 

 disputed. How can the existence 

 of these plants be accounted for, far 

 removed from human habitation and 

 unapproachable by mortal man, — 

 save that they or their progenitors 

 have been in possession of this r vj- 

 ged rock ever since Kinnoul Hill 

 assumed its present form and con- 

 dition. — John Sim, Bridge End, 

 Perth, August, 1864. 



Notes on a Double Inula 

 dy-enterica. 

 The other day my friend Mr. Ro- 

 berts and myself being out botanis- 

 ing in the neighbourhood of Burton 

 Salmon, found among other plants 

 a vast quantity of Inula chjsenterica. 

 One plant especially arrested our 

 attention, on account of the sui)erior 

 size and gay colour of its flowers. I 

 plucked a specimen, and found that 

 its superior beauty was caused by 

 a change which its florets had un- 

 dergone. In our gardens we have 

 many syngenesious or composite 

 plants, as Dahlia, Marigold, (Sec, 

 which are prized by florists in pro- 

 portion to the amount o^ doubling , 

 as they call it. This term, as ap- 

 plied to this class of plants, is cer- 

 tainly improper, though I know no 

 other term by which in common 



