LATHYRUS. PRUNUS. 57 



tures, common. This is probably the "Mouse-pea" mentioned by 

 Mr. Kerr. " There was formerly grown in Scotland, a species of 

 vetch, tare, or lentil, of considerable size, called provincially the 

 Mouse-pea, but which is hardly ever to be met with now. This has 

 sometimes been suggested as a probably good substitute for tares." 

 View of the County of Berwick, p. 265. 



156. L. SYLVESTRis. B. Woodcd banks of the Whitcadder Oppo- 

 site Hutton-mill, in great abundance. Dr. R. Dunlop. July -Aug. 



157. Orobus tuberosus. Don Gard. Diet, ii. 339. Heaths, 

 deans, whin-lovuig banks and broomie braes, all of which it adorns. 

 May-June. — The leaves vary exceedingly in size and breadth. The 

 variety tenuifoUus (= Or. tenuifolius of Don in Wern. Mem. iii. 

 301), with very narrow linear leaves, has been occasionally gathered 

 in our district, and on the same bank with the common kind. — 

 School-boys in Berwickshire call the roots Etqiiory^feiiotig, for, when 

 dried, the taste of them is not unlike that of the real liquorice. The 

 seeds are their ^jiTougc^pcasJ. 



Living specimens of Orobus niger were shown to the Club in 

 the spring of 1852 by Mr. Tate, who had gathered them in Roddam 

 dene, but the habitat being on the south side of it, is just beyond 

 our limits. 



158. Prunus spinosa. CJ)e ^lat or ^lac. On the precipi- 

 tous banks of deans and on braes, where the shrub forms an impene- 

 trable brake wherein our little songsters can nestle in security. April : 

 and our ancestors watched the time, for, said they, 



" When the Slae tree is white as a sheet. 

 Sow your Barley, whither it be dry or wet." 



The austere fruit is eaten by schoolboys after it has been amehorated 

 by the frosts of winter. One of the occupations of the " shortest 

 day," after the "barring out" had gained a holyday, used to be a 

 foray to the Slae-berry braes. I have more than once been of the 

 party. Sloe sticks are prized, because they are very knobby, straight 

 and dark-coloured, and firmer than those of other shrubs. 



7. P. insititia. Old hedges occasionally. B. " In hedges about 

 the abby of Mellross," Lightfoot. Near Horndean, April-May. 



8. P. domestica. Wild Plum-tree. D. On the banks of the Till 

 in the glen at Twizel-castle*. In the hedge at the Dovecot of Hag- 

 gerston. April-May. — This and the preceding are undoubtedly 

 states of P. spinosa. 



* " The ancient bridge of Twisel, by which the English crossed the Till, 

 is still standing beneath Twisel Castle, a splendid pile of Gothic architecture, 

 as now rebuilt by Sir Francis Blake, Bart., whose extensive plantations 

 have so much improved the country around. The glen is romantic and 

 dehghtful, with steep banks on each side, covered with copse, particularly 

 with hawthorn. Beneath a tall rock, near the bridge, is a plentiful foun- 

 tain, called St. Helen's Well." Sir Walter Scott. Note xiv. to Canto vi. of 

 Mannion. 



