I860.] BOTANIZING NEAR DUNKELD. 259 



we walked across Dunkeld bridge, and as the day was rather 

 hot and sunny, hired a cab, and drove down the east side of the 

 Tay to Stenton rocks. From Dunkeld to Steutou the country 

 is almost uninterruptedly woody. In passing along we could 

 not but admire the immense quantities of Vrola tricolor ? which 

 thickly studded the small fields by the wayside ; it was the large 

 purple-flowered variety, a very beautiful plant. In several places, 

 as we drove along, we detected in the border of the woods plenty 

 of Melampyrum pratense and Oxalis Acetosella. 



On arriving at Stenton rocks we were astonished to find a 

 superabundance of Asperula odorata and Agraphis nutans : the 

 former literally whitened the ground as far as we could descry. 

 My friend, being strong and twenty years my junior, commenced 

 the ascent of the rocks ; I, being weakly, had to content myself 

 at the foot. However, I was not altogether disappointed, as the 

 reader will see by the following list of plants I collected and 

 observed. I observed Verbascum Thapsus, plentiful, not in 

 flower, and of course did not gather it; Rosa spinosissima ; 

 Carduus acanthoides, coming into flower; Geranium lucidum, 

 frequent ; G. sanguineum, plentiful ; Origanum vulgare, abundant, 

 not then in flower ; Arabis hirsuta, abundant, rather out of 

 flower ; Helianthemum vulgare ; Thymus Serpyllum ; Asplenium 

 Ruta-muraria ; Asplenium Trichomanes ; and the rare Asplenium 

 septentrionale plentifully; and last but not least, the beautiful 

 blue-eyed Anchusa sempervirens. This plant in two (at least) of 

 our British Floras is not considered as a native of Britain ; with 

 all deference to these great men, I am of an entirely different 

 opinion, and I would just as soon believe the common Thymus 

 Serpyllum to be an introduction, as believe Anchusa sempervi- 

 rens to be a plant brought to the foot of Stenton rocks by human 

 agency. No one in reason could ever consider it an escape from 

 cultivation in this lonely unfrequented spot, far removed from the 

 abodes of civilization, nurseries, or gardens; it grows in great 

 abundance and luxuriance, and with azure eyes looks undisturbed 

 on the blue vault above. After fruitless search and vain for Asr 

 plenium germanicum, we wended our way for two miles to Caputh 

 ferry, crossed the ferry, and travelled to Murthly station, a dis- 

 tance of one mile. On the way, growing from a stone wall, we 

 saw abundance of Cystopteris fragilis, fronds nearly a foot in 

 length. We were struck with the abundance oi Anthemis arvensi» 



