1818.] Mr. Winch on the Geography of Plants. 47 



by the water of these bogs having drained off and left the peat 

 bare ; but this tree is no longer indigenous with us. And it 

 may be worthy of remark, that the Scotch fir does not at this 

 day attain the size of these ancient pines, though planted in 

 similar moorland situations, even though the young trees be 

 protected, and the plantations situated at a lower level. The 

 spruce fir (Pinus abies) appears never, to have been a native of 

 this island, though the woods on the continent of Europe, both to 

 the north and south of Britain, abound with it. 



In lowland situations it is impossible to ascertain the native 

 from the exotic willows ; but having remarked the blue willow 

 (Salix ccerulea) in the highlands of Scotland, I conclude it may 

 be indigenous here ; but I apprehend the golden willow (Salix 

 vitellina) has been brought to us from the south of Europe. On 

 the banks of our subalpine rivulets is the true locality of 

 Salix croweana, not in the hedges of Norfolk. (See Eng. Bot.) 

 The weeping willow, a native of Syria, never ripens its wood, 

 and of course never flowers in the north. 



The furze (Ulex europseus), when it can no longer exist on open 

 exposed moors, may be found in sequestered Denes at a height 

 of 2,000 feet ; here too terminates the growth of our most 

 common bramble (Rubus corylifolius), where it is all but an 

 evergreen, and where the fronds of many ferns survive the seve- 

 rity of our winters. 



On the Fyall Alps, in Lapland, at 1,400 feet below the line of 

 perpetual snow, Wahlenberg noticed the following shrubs : 

 Salix glauca, Betula nana, Juniperus communis, Salix hastata, 

 Arbutus alpina, Andromeda ccerulea, Andromeda polifolia, and 

 Rubus chamaemorus ; and at 600 feet higher, Salix lanata, Salix 

 myrsinites, Azalea procumbens, Azalea lapponica, Vaccinium 

 uliginosum, and Empetrum nigrum. It may not be amiss to 

 compare these plants with those of a similar description found 

 at 2,000 or 3,000 feet elevation in this latitude : Salix glauca, 

 Betula nana, and Arbutus alpina, Salix myrsinites, Azalea pro- 

 cumbens, and Andromeda ccerulea do not reach us, though 

 natives of the Scotch highlands. Salix lanata and Azalea lappo- 

 nica are foreign to Britain ; but Juniperus communis may be 

 traced from the coast to the highest mountains ; and Andro- 

 meda polifolia is comparatively speaking a lowland plant. Rubus 

 chamaemorus flourishes on the Cheviots, on Cronkley Fell, and 

 other moors in Teesdale, together with Empetrum nigrum ; 

 hut Vaccinium uliginosum docs not attain to so great an eleva- 

 tion. In the place of Arbutus alpina, we have Arbutus uva ursi, 

 and of Salix lanata, a few scattered plants of Salix arenaria, on 

 the Teesdale hills ; and the summit of Skiddaw is covered with 

 Salix herbacea, but without its usual attendant, Salix reticulata. 

 Cistus marifolius and Dryas octopetala grow by the Black Ark 

 on the highest part of Cronkley.* 



* This is alio the habitat of Tofieldia palustris, a native of Lapland and North 



