180 TRANSACTIONS OF THE [Sess. lxxvii. 



Stratiotes Aloides, Linn., near Crieff. By 

 R. C. Davie, M.A., B.Sc. (Plate V.) 



Stratiotes Aloides, Linn., though apparently indigenous 

 in the eastern counties of England (1), where its fossil seeds 

 have been found (2), seems to have been introduced into all 

 its Scottish localities. 



In July 1906 I found Stratiotes in a small loch to the 

 west of Crieff, Perthshire, in rocks of Lower Old Red 

 Sandstone age — conglomerates and coarse grits. Through 

 the kindness of Mr. Wm. Barclay of Perth and of Mr. A. M. 

 Rodger of the Perthshire Natural History Museum, I have 

 been enabled to trace the history of this set of plants. In 

 the Perth Museum and in Dr. Kidston's herbarium, now at 

 Glasgow University, there are specimens of Stratiotes 

 collected at this pond by Dr. Kidston in September 1884. 

 Dr. Kidston tells me he was taken to it by the late Dr. 

 Buchanan White, who gave the name Blackbank Pond 

 for it. 1 On the Perth specimen there is a note that the 

 gardener said Stratiotes was planted in the pond about 

 1861, and that it came from Ravelston, Edinburgh (by 

 which was no doubt meant the old quarry near Blackhall, 

 Corstorphine, or the old marl pit near Davidson's Mains). 



At subsequent visits to Blackbank Pond in 1908, 1910, 

 and in May of this year (1913), I found Stratiotes as 

 abundant as in 1906. 



It covers the surface of the water, except just in the 

 centre of the pond, where Potamogeton natans, Linn., 

 takes its place (Plate V., A). In the open reed-swamp 

 surrounding the open water, Stratiotes is accompanied by 

 Typha latifolia, Linn., and Lemna minor, Linn., while in 

 the closed reed-swamp are Comarum palustre, Linn., Cicuta 

 virosa, Linn., Menyanthes trifoliata, Linn., Iris Pseuda- 

 corus, Linn., TypJta latifolia, Linn., Sparganium erectum, 

 Linn., Car ex inflata, Huds., and C. vesicaria, Linn. 

 (Plate V., B). 



1 Mr. J. Carson Gentles writes on 14th June 1913 : " I was told a few 

 days ago by one of the old workmen that he remembers the proprietor 

 sending bulrushes from Loch Monzievaird to be planted there. The 

 place was perhaps in these days just a slough, and it was fenced later 

 to save sheep and cattle from being bogged. Our old maps about 1828 

 do not show it, the first map on which it is depicted being 1853. ' 



