84 Rarer Woodland Plants of Scotland. [Sess. 



tufts a yard across, very sparsely flowered, frondose lichens, 

 sphagnum, and moor grasses. The slowly decaying remains 

 of former generations of these plants, together with the conif- 

 erous ddiris, form a loose porous compost, into which one can 

 easily thrust one's hands. Below this upper layer the peat 

 is of considerable solidity. The most southerly station in 

 Britain for this plant has special interest to me. More than 

 half a century ago my father, the late D. T. Fish, was inter- 

 ested in the Scone station for this rare native plant. At that 

 time it grew and flowered freely there, ^ Why this beautiful 

 plant should be so scarce in Britain when so plentiful in 

 certain localities on the Continent is not easily answered. In 

 fact, it is possibly due to the scarcity of virgin forest in Scot- 

 land, and still further, our summers do not appear to suit it 

 to the same degree as does the far warmer inland summers 

 abroad. Moneses has seldom been under cultivation. It is 

 necessary in the first place to secure the creeping shoots with 

 roots — not merely the foliaged shoots, with a small portion 

 beneath. These white stems should be kept in damp moss, 

 for they speedily wither on exposure to air. Plant them in 

 humus of a similar kind in which they are found, choosing a 

 shady spot. I have only met with it in cultivation at Geneva 

 and Edinburgh ; at the latter place it is grown in the Eoyal 

 Botanic Garden. It is well worth growing, and flowers more 

 freely perhaps under cultivation than does any Pyrola. An 

 enthusiastic hardy-plant grower informs me of his intention of 

 importing a quantity for garden use, although it can never 

 equal its native beauty iinless naturalised in pine-woods. In 

 the alpine regions it ascends to as great an elevation as does 

 the mountain pine. 



Of far more frequent occurrence in Scotland is Linnoea, a 

 monotypic genus differing from most Caprifoliacete in its dry, 

 not succulent fruit. Its association with the Master of Botany 

 of the eighteenth century is interesting. Linnaea borealis 

 occurs in quantities in the north of Scotland, but is not in any 

 way a well-distributed plant. When it does occur, there is 

 usually plenty, but many forests which would afford ideal 

 conditions for its growth are without it. In the south of 

 Scotland it occurs in several localities. The luxuriance with 



^ Not so lately ; see ' Flora of Perthshire,' p. 217.* 



