[February, 1862.] 33 



ANCIENT SCOTTISH BOTANY. 

 By Charles Howie, St. Andrew^ s. 



' Scotia Illustrata/ an illustrated work on the Natural History 

 of Scotland, comprehends, among other matters, certain chapters 

 on Scottish plants. The learned author, Sir Robert Sibbald,^ 

 divides botany into three heads, divisions, or classes, viz. in the 

 first book of the second part of his '^Prodromus,^ he describes the 

 spontaneous or indigenous vegetation of Scotland ; and in the 

 second book he treats of the medicinal and economical herbs cul- 

 tivated in the Botanic Garden in Edinburgh, then under the 

 curatorship of James Sutherland. Between these two books 

 there is a catalogue of the natural vegetation of the King's 

 (Queen's) Park, Edinburgh. 



His method is the following : — First, he states the name of 

 the plant, with the authority, usually Bauhin's ^Pinax,' or J. or 

 C. Bauhin ; second, the characteristic marks of the species or 

 genus ; third, its quality [vires, qualities) ; lastly, its application, 

 viz. external, internal, etc. ; and occasionally he gives the locality. 



The following is not a sample of his elaborate treatise, but a 

 selection from it. — 



One of the most important of the rarities enumerated by Sib- 

 bald is Lavatera arborea, Tree Mallow ; which grows " in Inch 

 Garvie and Mykrie Inch, in the Firth of Forth " (' Scotia Illus- 

 trata,' part ii. p. 37, cap. xii.). 



Inch Garvie is a small steep rock, accessible only on the west, 

 where it slopes dov.n to the beach. Mykrie is about a quarter of 

 a mile in diameter. 



Cochlearia officinalis grew, in Sibbald's time, upon the rocks 

 of Inch Columb, in the north, by the seaside. Also, the round- 

 leaved form (C. rotundifoUa) is found on hills near the river 

 Tweed. Inch Columb is about half a mile long, and one hun- 



* This eminent naturalist, physician, and historian was born before the middle 

 of the seventeenth century, and was educated for the medical profession in Scot- 

 land and in Holland. He was appointed Physician to his Majesty King Charles 

 II., and also Royal Historiographer. His ' Scotia Illustrata,' or 'Prodromus His- 

 toric Naturalis Scotise' was the result of his appointment. Dr. Andrew Balfour, 

 the founder of the Edinburgh Botanic Garden, was his associate in his botanical 

 excursions. 'Scotia Illustrata' was pubhshed in folio at Edinburgh, 1681, and was 

 the labour of twenty years. 



N. S. VOL. VI. F 



