316 



THE NATURALIST. 



Botanical Society of Edinburgh. 



XXIX. session III. MEETING. 



The society met on Thursday, 

 12th January, at 5, St. Andrew 

 Square — Professor Balfour, V.P., in 

 the chair. — The following commu- 

 nications were read : — 



I. Account of Excursions to the 

 Mountains at the head of Loch- 

 Lomond, to Ben Lawers and the 

 Sow of Athole, in August and 

 September, 1861. By Professor 

 Balfour. 



In this paper the author gave an 

 account of an excursion made with 

 pupils to Inverarnan, at the head of 

 Lochlomond ; and of excursions to 

 Ben Yoirlich, Benmore, Binnain or 

 Stobbinnain, the Cobler, Benima, 

 and the shores of Lochlomond, from 

 August 9th to 13th. Among the 

 more interesting plants noticed were 

 the following : — Saglna nivalis, on 

 Binnain, along with Draba rupestris, 

 Carex vaginata, and Polypodimn 

 alpestre ; on Ben Voirlich all the 

 ordinary alpine species were col- 

 lected. On August 20th Dr. Balfour 

 visited the mountain called the Sow 

 of Athole, and gathered on it Phyl- 

 lodoce ccerulea, Azalea procumbens, 

 Lycopodiiimannotinu77i,Cornussuecica^ 

 and other alpine plants. On 25th 

 August he made an excursion to 

 Ben Lawers, and found abundance 



of Sagina nivalis on the spot, where 

 he had gathered the plant in 1847. 

 He also picked Saxifraga cernua, 

 Draba rupestris, and numerous other 

 alpine species. Specimens of the 

 plants were exhibited, and remarks 

 were made on the local distribution 

 of plants in Scotland, specimens 

 being shown of species confined to 

 single localities and of others only 

 found in two or three places. 



II. Notice of Dilivaria ilicifolia (Juss), 

 sent from Old Calabar by Mr. 

 Hewan, and now flowering in the 

 Edinburgh Botanic Garden. By 

 Professor Balfour. 



Dr. Balfour showed specimens 

 of the plant from the Botanic Gar- 

 den. He agreed with Dr. Thomas 

 Anderson in thinking that it cannot 

 be separated from Acanthus. He 

 gave a description of the plant, and 

 mentioned that the seeds had been 

 sent from Old Calabar by Archibald 

 Hewan, Esq., medical missionary 

 there. 



III. Notice of 7?osactZ/?ma(Deseglise), 

 found naturalised near Perth. By 

 F. B. W. White, M.D. 



Dr. White stated that he had 

 gathered this rose in the depth of 

 the woods on Kinnoul Hill, near 

 Perth, where it seems to have fairly 

 established itself. He gave a de- 

 scription of the plant and exhibited 

 specimens from the locality. The 

 plant is not uncommon on the Con- 

 tinent. 



