66 CUMBRIAN BOTANY. [Mavch, 



scope for the indulgence of his tastes, be they geological, botani- 

 cal, antiquarian, or piscatorial. 



The vale of the Duddon, bounded by its romantic rocks, will 

 gratify the artist, and supply him with numerous objects for the 

 exercise of his pencil, and his power of selection and combina- 

 tion. It is with the wild flowers adorning the banks of the 

 stream that we are concerned; and I can assure the genuine 

 lover of botany that he will leave this vale a happier if not a 

 wiser man than when he came. 



I will now give a loose sketch of my rambles among the floral 

 treasures of this locality between the 6th and 18th of last Sep- 

 tember. I am indebted to the kindness of Mr. Sim, of Perth, 

 in giving me the names of a few of the plants I was unable to 

 make out. At the suggestion of the same kind friend it is that 

 I publish this record. The truth is, I was afraid my materials 

 were too meagre for these columns, and that what plants I might 

 esteem as somewhat uncommon the people of the South might 

 sneer at as weeds growing at their very doors. The Daisy and 

 Celandine are common all England over, it is true ; and perhaps 

 some good people may think that Verbena officinalis, Bartsia 

 Odontites, Echium vulgare, and the like, are also everywhere to 

 be met with. All I can say is, they are not common in this 

 neighbourhood. I have already given an account of the plants 

 about Sea Scale, eighteen miles higher up the coast (see ' Phyto- 

 logist,' November, 1839) ; and it will be seen on comparison 

 that, even allowing for the difference of the times of gather- 

 ing, the Floras of the two places, though in some respects simi- 

 lar, yet vary very considerably. Sallying out with my vasculum 

 on September 6th, with that sense of pleasure so peculiar to 

 the lover of Nature when treading fresh ground, I took the 

 road leading to Broughton, and soon fell in with Ranunculus 

 sceleratus and Samolus Valerandi ; then making my way to the 

 shore I gathered the prickly Eryngium maritinium, the beautiful 

 (and to me Heath-like) Sagina nodosa, and the minute Radiola 

 millegrana, all entirely new to me and all in flower, though the 

 two latter had mostly shed their delicate petals. Next day I 

 crossed the railway at the station, took the road to the left, and 

 then traversed the shore of the estuary until the most southern 

 point of Cumberland was gained. On the route I gathered Gen- 

 tiana cainpestris, Statice bahusiensis (which grows here in abun- 



