SESSION 1903-1904. 



I.— FOREIGN WILD-FLOW UBS IN THE EDINBURGH 

 BISTBICT. 



By Miss BEATRICE SPRAGUE. 



{Read Nov. 25, 1903.) 



In the first week of October I found in the field to the south 

 of Drylaw House a specimen of a flower which, by means of 

 the description in Messrs Bonnier and Layens' ' Flore de la 

 France,' and a coloured plate in Mr Bicknell's ' Plants and 

 Ferns of the Eiviera,' I identified as Specularia speculum. A 

 day or two later, I found in a potato-field close by several 

 plants of Trigonella corniculata, Trigonella ccerulea, and Meli- 

 lotus parviflora, growing in a belt of weeds some eight feet 

 wide bordering a cart-track. It appears from Koch's ' Syn- 

 opsis of the German and Swiss Flora ' that all four plants are 

 natives of Germany. I thought they might perhaps have 

 been introduced with seed, but on making inquiries at Drylaw 

 Mains Farm, to which both the fields in question belong, I 

 was told that all their crops are raised from home-grown seed. 

 Can any of our members contribute any other facts bearing on 

 the occurrence of the plants ? 



The finding of these aliens suggests to me that it might 

 perhaps be an interesting and useful line of inquiry to 

 examine samples of agricultural seeds as supplied by seeds- 

 men to our farmers. 



At this meeting Mr T. C. Day gave a most admirable 

 demonstration in Colour Photography, illustrated by many 

 VOL. V. E 



