260 TRANSACTIONS, NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY OF GLASGOW. 



the neighbourhood of the caves and the " Hermit's Well " might 

 suggest that it, too, was a relic of former cultivation. It is a 

 very likely plant to have been grown by the primitive inhabitants 

 to make a medicinal drink. It has long been used as such, and it 

 is still cultivated in various countries for like purposes. Gustave 

 Heuze says : *" La grande absinthe ou absinthe amere est tres 

 ancienne. Galien a vante ses vertus ; il la regai'dait comme un 

 puissant tonique. Pepuis longtemps aussi, on connait ses 

 proprietes vermifuges. Cette plante est indigene en France, 

 mais elle est cultivee comme plante medicinale dans plusieurs 

 contrees de I'Est. . . . On emploie I'absinthe en medecine 

 comme vermifuge, tonique et febrifuge. Elle sert aussi a preparer 

 le vin, le sirop, la tisane et I'eau d'absinthe, le baume tranquille, 

 la poudre vermifuge. Les brasseurs substituent parfois I'absinthe 

 au houblon ; la biere qui en resulte est tres enivrante." So this 

 plant has for long and still continues to take a place among 

 commercial crops. 



The leaves of A. Absinthium have not got the green upper 

 surface that those of A. vulgaris have. The plant is whiter all 

 over, and the tufts of tall stems are both striking and handsome. 

 A. maritima keeps nearer the ground, and, although white in 

 colour, its leaves otherwise very much resemble those of its 

 relative, the Southernwood, A. Abrotanum, Linn. Even in 

 fragrance it is very like the well-known gai'den favourite. 



Agrimonia Eupatoria, Linn., is plentiful on many dry banks in 

 the neighbourhood of Crail, but there seems to be only one station 

 for A. odorata, Mill, in the district, and from it Provost Sim 

 supplied a plant for the Edinburgh Botanic Gardens some years 

 ago. Under the guidance of the Provost I had a very interesting 

 ramble to the habitat of this plant, and we had many other 

 specimens through hands on our way to and from the object of 

 our search. A. odorata, Mill, grows by the side of an old disused 

 gravel pit, now a deep water pool, in an out-of-the-way place, 

 where ramblers are seldom likely to come upon it. No minute 

 points are required to distinguished between odorata and 

 Eupatoria if you have them both together; the whole plants 

 look different at first sight, even if only in leaf, and the flowers of 

 the former are larger and more closely packed on the inflorescence. 

 * " Les Plantes Industrielles," t. iv., chap. viii. 



