871 



The use of fennel would seem to suggest the introduction of so 

 lofty and conspicuous a plant, and I should doubt its introduction by 

 the hand of Nature here originally, though I admit that it appeared 

 quite as wild as I have seen it on the chalky cliffs of Kent, yet in all 

 cases not very far removed from houses. It may be'possibly a very 

 early colonist, since unquestionably some plants have been intro- 

 duced by the hand of man earlier than others, and none will dispute 

 the extraneous origin of such attendants upon cultivation as Chrysan- 

 themum segetum or Ranunculus arvensis, though no one can now say 

 when they were not apparent in the furrow! But when a place like 

 Llandudno is in a transition state, it may appear uncertain whether 

 houses have crept up to the original station of the plant, or the plant 

 has escaped from the gardens of the houses. With regard to the 

 common wormwood, no doubt that has clung^to the Welsh from the 

 very oldest times, and they still cling to it, as I saw some old women 

 carrying off bundles to their huts, no doubt to make decoctions and 

 infusions, perhaps very good in their way, as a shrewd miner assured 

 me as his belief that "old woman's was better than any doctor;" and 

 indeed I found out that no surgeon or even apothecary lived in the 

 place. The Welsh, indeed, still trust as much in and pin their faith 

 to the powers of herbs as the English commonly did two centuries 

 ago, and they always fly, when indisposed, to these traditional wound- 

 worts and all-heals. A respectable Welshman of Llandudno, who 

 has seen a good deal of the world, told me seriously that he believed 

 his countrymen would rather die than call in a doctor, that is, a regu- 

 lar practitioner. The old miner I before alluded to (all are miners at 

 Llandudno), when I questioned him on the subject, simply said, yes, 

 indeed, their herbs " was good for everything," and snatching up a 

 plant or two of Linum catharticum, that grew near the path, " that, 

 now, good as Epsom salt." 



First and foremost of the plants growing on the Great Orme's Head, 

 is the Cotoneaster vulgaris. This Mr. Bennett altogether omits, and 

 perhaps could not find, for it grows just in the last place a stranger 

 might expect — on a limestone ledge descending in easy steps just be- 

 hind a farm house called Ty-na-Coed, some distance above Llandudno 

 village, but looking inland : it may be between 400 and 500 feet high, 

 but the western part of the head is higher. The easy descent of this 

 ledge causes numerous shrubs to grow there, as privet, holly, spindle- 

 tree, and even much hazel. There is some quantity of the Cotoneas- 

 ter, though growing dwarf out of the cracks of the rock : it bore ripe 

 fruit at the time of my visit, and some of the older leaves were beauti- 



