1014 



sprung up, — Centranthus ruber ; and this red valerian now grows over 

 walls and ruins with such rapidity, that upon buildings in South 

 Wales it seems likely to become as much a pest in its onward spread 

 upon land, as the Udova is in its incursions through the water. 



I have, in a former communication, adverted to the Aquilegia vul- 

 garis, as among the ill-starred plants that have a dubious light thrown 

 upon thera in the last edition of the ' British Flora,' by Sir W. J. 

 Hooker and Dr. Arnott. I was particularly struck, this year, with 

 the abundance of the columbine, both in Pembrokeshire and Caermar- 

 thenshire. In wandering around Pembroke, I found it quite general 

 under hedges in shady lanes, in several directions, as well as at 

 Penally near Tenby, and on the road to Haverfordwest, from the 

 latter place ; nor could I see any reason to believe that it was less a 

 true native than Hypericum Androsoemum, springing up by its side, 

 which no one has suggested to be an introduction. Possibly the 

 Aquilegia may have increased of late years ; but for such a general 

 West-of-England plant, it surely seems strange for the authors of the 

 ' British Flora' merely to speak of its occurrence " in several places," 

 and brand it as not a genuine native. It may be, therefore, well to 

 record, that on the road from Haverfordwest to Caermarthen (and in 

 the latter county), between a place called " the Roses " and the vil- 

 lage of St. Clear's, the columbine occurred in large patches, at inter- 

 vals, for three miles ; and in one gorsy upland, in particular, was 

 dispersed among the gorse-bushes {Ulex Europceiis), in eveiy part of 

 the heathy field, making one of those floral pictures, bright with 

 colouring, that so long repose upon the memory. 



A few plants may be mentioned, in connexion with the vicinity of 

 Tenby, about the Castle-rocks of which now flourish the most exube- 

 rant growth of sea-cabbage {Brassica oleracea) and Smyrnium Olusa- 

 trum that ever met ray view. Whether this was so previous to the 

 occupation of the Castle, is, perhaps, worth the discussion of those 

 who would pry curiously into the first immigi-ation of plants consi- 

 dered to be " doubtfully wild," or, " perhaps only escaped from culti- 

 vation." It is an interesting ramble, passing through the singular 

 western portal of Tenby, down the Windmill Hill, and across the 

 sandy Burrows to Giltar Point, and the broken limestone rocks there 

 forming the barrier of the coast. Numerous hills and hollows, with 

 intervening spreads of sand, make the track a devious one ; and some 

 isolated masses of rock, half covered with ivy, and, where bare, deeply 

 tinted with the orange-coloured Parmelia elegans, give a picturesque 

 aspect to parts of the scene ; while an old, solitary watch-tower near 



