14 FLORAS OF THE EAST AND WEST OF SCOTLAND COMPARED. 
ground, well-tilled long ago, but left untouched owing to the 
prevalent depopulation, soon gets gradually into its grip again. 
Then in the damper hill-pastures the most conspicuous 
plant, especially in autumn, is the Devil’s-Bit Scabious 
(Scabiosa Swecisa)—its purple heads, with here and there one 
white, are everywhere ; while along the streams the Yellow 
Iris (Iris Pseudacorus) and Lythrum Salicaria—the great 
purple Loose-strife—are very conspicuous in the landscape. 
Towards the sea the hill-slopes, when uncultivated, are 
covered with brackens—Péeris aquilina—and the colour of 
the lower hills in late autumn, from russet to golden and 
from deep crimson to tawny brown, is even a more wonderful 
sight than the deep purple of the higher heather hills in 
August. And then in winter many of the hill-slopes are a 
wondrous purple with the straggling birchwoods along their 
sides. 
That Cnanthe crocata is conspicuously present goes 
without saying, but a rarer plant is Gnanthe Lachenali, 
which is common, comparatively, in the shore marshes. 
And mention must also be made of Cotyledon Umbzilicus, 
which in North Knapdale covers the roadside for miles; 
of Carum verticillatum, the Whorled Carraway, in the 
damper hill-pastures; and of the beautiful little Vernal 
Squill (Scilla verna), which covers the sea-rocks in many 
places in May with its pale mauve flowers. 
Coming now to the East, we find all things different. 
The very hillsides have plants we never see—Astragalus, 
Helianthemum, Echium vulgare. 
The dominant cornfield plant is undoubtedly the Poppy, 
which is only sometimes seen in Cantire, brought in with 
alien seed. I myself have only seen it once. Then along 
the hedges you have Jack-by-the-hedge — Sisymbriwm 
Alliaria—while by the wayside you have the White Dead- 
nettle (Lamium album), which we never see. 
The list is one that could be indefinitely extended, but 
I think enough has been said to justify my contention 
that, beautiful as may be the vegetation of the West, we 
there, among grey skies and grey rocks and grey seas, 
have not the luxuriance of flower or the diversity that obtains 
in the more fertile and happier East. 
