RARER PLANTS OK THE PARISH OF OLD KILPATRIOK. 183^ 



streams lie beyond the boundaries of the parish of 

 Old Kilpatrick. 



An occasional botanist visitor, even although he 

 should refuse to notice the numerous sign^boards 

 warning him of penalties rigorously exacted from the 

 "trespasser," would have some difficulty in knowing^ 

 where to begin work, especially amid surrounding* 

 which in many cases would not seem very promising. 

 Yet the number of plants found in the district i» 

 very considerable ; and although few of these are 

 perhaps very rare, some of them are certainly not 

 often to be met with in Clydesdale. 



As a committee of the British Association is at 

 present investigating the causes which have led to 

 the disappearance of native plants from their 

 habitats, it may not be out of place here to mention 

 that the character of the river-margin between 

 Clydebank and the building at Dalmuir occupied 

 as the works of the Clyde Trustees, a distance of 

 nearly a mile and a half, has, within the last nine 

 years, been completely changed. This extent of 

 rivei'-margin consisted entirely of marshy ground, 

 varying in width from 100 to 400 feet, where the 

 following plants occurred in abundance : Ranunculus 

 sceleratus, L., Cochlearia officinalis, L., Lepigonutn 

 neglect uvi, Kindb., Alisnia Plantago, L., Triglochin 

 maritimum, L., Scirpus TaberncEmontani, Gmel., 5. 

 maritivius, L., Carex acuta, L., and Phragmites com- 

 munis, Trin. The mai-sh itself, with these and other 

 plants, has disappeared, and through the operations 

 of the Clyde Trustees all the waste ground has 

 been reclaimed. While from an agricultural point 

 of view this result is not to be regretted, the 

 botanist can scarcely avoid contemplating with dis- 

 may the large inroad made upon his territory. 

 Of Scirpus Tabern<xmontani, which is very locally 

 distributed along the banks of the Clyde, there 

 were onlj^ a few plants to be seen last year on the 

 north side of the river, and these were confined to 

 the immediate vicinity of the Dalmuir Works. This 



