340 Wild Flowers in the Vicinity of Penicuik. [Sess. 



adorn many a shady nook. The flowering-plants most common 

 here are the wood hyacinth (Hyacinthus non-scriptus), the 

 common primrose (Primula vulgaris), the wood anemone 

 (Anemone nemorosa), and the wood crane's-bill (Geranium 

 sylvaticum). The ground is much broken up by the action 

 of running water, and wherever the minerals have been 

 exposed the wood-sorrel is to be seen in all its delicate fresh- 

 ness, nestling beneath each ledge of sandstone, with its bright 

 green trefoil leaves that close and go to sleep on the approach 

 of darkness. Down in the sunless gully, and close to the 

 edge of the stream, grows the humble moschatel (Adoxa mos- 

 chatellina), a plant that is apt to be overlooked unless noted 

 by some one specially on the alert for it. Near the Adoxa, 

 and in a similar situation, grows the very handsome white 

 meadow - saxifrage (Saxifraga granulata), which, when trans- 

 ferred to the garden as a rock-plant, soon develops into one of 

 the best of its family, as its blossoms become much enlarged 

 by cultivation. A strange Orchideous plant without chloro- 

 phyll is also pretty common here, namely, the bird's -nest 

 orchis (Neottia Nidus-avis). This is a plant which I have 

 never managed to transfer to my garden, though I have 

 frequently attempted to do so, and with the greatest of care. 

 It is probably parasitical. Another of those low forms of 

 plants that derive nourishment from other plants is the cow- 

 wheat (Melampyrum sylvaticum). It is a rather small, 

 tender-stemmed plant, with pendent yellow blossoms that are 

 almost sure to turn black in the process of drying for the 

 herbarium. To these may be added yet another plant with 

 the same parasitical characteristics — namely, the scaly tooth- 

 wort (Lathrsea squamaria). This plant thrives in a hollow of 

 the wood near Dalmore Paper-mill, and I have found it also 

 on the Penicuik estate : in both places it grows on the roots 

 of hazel. It is said that the seeds of this plant, when sown 

 in a new situation, lie in a resting condition for several years. 

 A great number and variety of plants are found on the 

 banks of the North Esk as one follows its upward course from 

 the village of Auchendinny to Penicuik. Large clumps of the 

 two rest-harrows (Ononis arvensis and 0. spinosa) are quite 

 common ; while sweet cicely (Myrrhis odorata), the common 

 comfrey (Symphytum officinale), the knotted figwort (Scroph- 



