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our kindest regard, for independently of the value of the Collectanea in a botanical 

 point of view, they possess additional interest in our eyes from the circumstance that 

 in almost every page we meet with the names of localities, ouce honoured with the 

 presence of Scotland's Burns, and immortalized by the genius of our own Shakspeare. 



Sir J. E. Smith, in his ' Tour on the Continent,' has remarked that " a plant ga- 

 thered in a celebrated or delightful spot, is, like the hair of a friend, more dear to me- 

 mory than even a portrait, because it excites the mind without presuming to fill it. " 

 The truth of this observation will, we think, be acknowledged by all who have been in 

 the habit of seeking the botanical productions of any country, in their own peculiar 

 habitats; and the remark applies even to the more common and less beautiful plants 

 of a district, as well as to localities with no particular historical or poetical associations 

 attached to them. But with how much deeper interest would such a plant as Alche- 

 milla alpina be invested, if gathered at " the Fall of Foyers," perhaps on the very spot 

 where Burns stood when he wrote in pencil the beautiful lines beginning — "Among 

 the heathy hills and ragged woods " ! Again, the pleasure of botanizing in the woods 

 of Cawdor and Gordon Castles, and of collecting there Pyrola media and secunda or 

 Circaea alpina, must surely be heightened by the remembrance that Burns himself had 

 wandered in these very woods, since he tells us that he " crossed the country to Fort 

 George, but called by the way at Cawdor, the ancient seat of Macbeth ; there I saw 

 the identical bed in which, tradition says. King Duncan was murdered;" — and that 

 his well-known verses — " Streams that glide in orient plains," &c., were written when 

 reluctantly relinquishing the kirfdness and hospitality of the noble owners of " Bon- 

 nie Castle Gordon." Then again, Brodie House and its Laird being so frequently 

 mentioned in the Collectanea, we cannot fail to remember that Burns slept at Bro- 

 die House; and that we read in his journal — "Mr. Brodie tells me the muir where 

 Shakspeare lays Macbeth's witch-meeting, is still haunted — that the country folks 

 won't pass by night." This inuir we presume to be "The ' Blasted Heath,' near Bro- 

 die;" if so, the midnight revels of Shakspeare's gay old ladies seem to have scared 

 away all the country plants as well as counti'y /o/A-s, for we find but one recorded as 

 growing there — Orobus tuberosus, var. tenuijolius. Others of the Macbeth localities 

 are also very frequently mentioned, as, for instance, Forres and its castle-hill ; but 

 we must leave poetry and poetical associations, and endeavour to give our readers 

 some idea of the botanical contents of the work before us. 



We are quite of opinion that if the rules laid down in Mr. Watson's excellent 

 " Observations on the Construction of a Local Flora " (' Mag. of Zool. and Bot.' i. 

 424) were generally known and strictly adhered to, the scientific value of local Floras 

 and lists of plants would be greatly enhanced, inasmuch as a greater degree of preci- 

 sion being followed in the compilation of such works, increased confidence in their 

 accuracy would be felt on the part of those who have occasion to consult them. Act- 

 ing therefore on this opinion, we think we cannot do better than to transfer these 

 rules to our own pages, both with the view of bringing them more immediately under 

 the notice of our readers, and also to exhibit from the Collectanea some examples 

 of the practical application of the spirit of the rules. We must however premise 

 that the work is not, strictly speaking, a local Flora, but simply such a carefully exe- 

 cuted list of plants as we should be glad to see drawn up for every botanical district 

 in the kingdom ; by the circulation of which, as the compiler observes in the Preface, 

 " among those who take an interest in the Botany of the North of Scotland, it is in- 

 tended to show the result of inquiries hitherto made within the Province of Moray, and 



