xx FLORA ORCADENSIS. 
flowers. These bushes are often used for hedges and 
sides of walks. One of our prettiest wild-flowers is 
fox-glove, Digitalis purpwrea, which grows well in 
ditches and under the shelter of earthen dykes. It 
crows best, however, where there is rank vegetation 
surrounding it. These old withered grasses and 
flower-stalks seem to protect its roots and _ buds, 
especially in early spring ; when exposed it dies. 
The most interesting features of a district to 
a field-botanist, especially in an exposed, treeless 
county like Orkney, are its corries and burns, in 
which shelter is provided for some of the rarer 
plants. There are many such shelter spots in Hoy 
and Walls; a few are found, too, on the Mainland. 
One of the most interesting walks, from a botanical 
point of view, can be had by following the bed of 
the Burn of Syradale between Firth and Harray. A 
few fine rose bushes grow near the lower end of the 
burn at the foot of the steep declivity. Farther up on 
its rocky ledges grow plants of Draba incana ; while 
on crossing the peaty hill towards Redland there is 
abundance of Scirpus pauciflora. Then, on descend- 
ing the other side, are some ferns—Lastrea wmula 
—and large specimens of Lastrea dilatata. In the 
same locality is to be found that graceful and 
beautiful plant, Cirecea alpinu. The Meadow of the 
Kame, with its connecting gulhes leading to the 
hills outside, is the home of the filmy fern and of 
the rare Suxifraga stellurs. The Burn of Berriedale, 
with its tributaries, especially those on the west, 
gives shelter to an interesting group, where on the 
scree; in the widened bed of the stream, there is 
