EXCURSIONS TO LOCH LOMONDS1DE. 59 



At one time the property of the Earls of Lennox, Rossdhu has 

 been in the possession of the Colquhouns since it passed into 

 their hands by marriage in the time of Bruce. The present hand- 

 some mansion house was built about 1774. In its neighbourhood 

 are the remains of " Our Lady's Chapel " of Rossdhu (which is 

 ascribed to the twelfth century) and of a castle. The park is of 

 great extent, and has been embellished by successive proprietors 

 with a great variety of trees. The authors of a General View of 

 the Agriculture of Dumbarton, published in 181 1, state that 

 "previous to 1794 the late Sir James Colquhoun, Bart., had 

 planted in the course of fifteen years not less than a thousand 

 acres of land with trees of various kinds." 



On the walls of the old castle the wall-pellitory (Parielaria 

 officinalis) and the snapdragon {Antirrhinum majus) were found. 

 The stone-bramble (Rtibus saxatilis) and twayblade (Lisiera ovata) 

 were also noted. Over the old chapel (which is used as a place 

 of burial by the Colquhouns) spread the branches of a yew tree 

 noticed in the first statistical account of Luss. This tree, which 

 is a male, is getting rather thin in the foliage, and in this respect 

 compares unfavourably with the example (a female) which stands 

 in the roadway, opposite the middle lodge, which is an exceed- 

 ingly handsome tree. Of the large great maple, or sycamore, 

 mentioned in the first statistical account, only the shell of the 

 trunk remains, but at no distance from it and behind the stables, 

 a most worthy successor has grown up. 



There are many fine individual trees in the noble park at 

 Rossdhu. On the largest noted, a beech, an interesting fungus 

 had established itself {Polyporus igniarius), one of the sources of 

 German tinder. A pinetum adjoining the old castle received a 

 share of attention, one strikingly distinct shrub, the Earl of 

 Harrington's yew ( Taxus Harringtonia), attracting special notice. 

 The majority of those present returned by the boats to Luss, but 

 a few proceeded by the North Lodge to the village on foot, thus 

 completing an unusually varied and interesting excursion. 



The following measurements (taken in August, 1889) of the 

 notable trees near Luss, to which the attention of the Society has 

 been directed at different times, should be valuable for future 

 reference : — 



