266 Mr. J.T. Syme on some Plants observed in Orkney. 
XXVI.—Notice of some of the rarer Plants observed in Orkney 
during the Summer of 1849. By Joun T. Symu, Esq.* 
Havrne passed the greater part of last summer in Orkney, and 
during that time having examined the natural history of the 
parts of it which I visited, I now lay before the Society a notice 
of a few of the rarer plants which I observed. I would have 
drawn up a list of all the species which I met with, but as I had 
opportunities of botanizing only in the southern part of the 
mainland and in the islands of Hoy, Burray and Flota, I have 
thought it advisable to defer this until I shall have made some 
acquaintance with the botany of the other islands, which I hope 
to accomplish next summer. 
The flora of Orkney is by no means extensive, and excepting 
some alpine plants which are found at a lower elevation than 
usual, it embraces very few species of interest ;—as is to be ex- 
pected from its bare and treeless condition and the uniformity 
of its geological formation; the old red sandstone, with here 
and there a trap-dyke, being the only rock to be met with ; while 
the incessant winds charged with saline particles and the low 
summer temperature forbid the growth of the more tender 
plants, as well as those which rise above the shelter of the sur- 
rounding vegetation. 
In addition to these adverse circumstances, by far the greater 
proportion of the ground is flat and moorish, which still more 
contributes to give a sameness to the vegetation ; so that I think 
we may account for the paucity of species from the physical con- 
ditions of the Orkney islands, without having recourse to any 
theory of centres of vegetation and migration of plants. 
I shall now proceed to give the names of the plants I met 
with, nearly in the order in which J noticed them, with the 
dates when the various trips were made, as extracted from my 
journal. 
On the 5th of June last, I went on board the screw steamer 
“ Northman,” at Leith, and after a tedious passage of forty hours, 
arrived in Kirkwall Bay. The morning was wet and windy, but 
being impatient to examine the botany and entomology of a 
district new to me, and feeling the desire of again walking on 
terra firma, as is natural to a landsman after a sea voyage of 
longer duration than he is accustomed to, I set out for Swan- 
bister, the place of my destination, about eight miles south-west of 
Kirkwall. I soon found, however, that novelties or even rarities 
were not to be expected, for I did not in the whole of my walk 
find a single plant worth drying. 
In the town of Kirkwall I saw Stachys ambigua (not yet in 
* Read before the Botanical Society of Edinburgh, Feb. 14, 1850. 
