io6 WILD FLOWERS OF SCOTLAND 



most delightfully shaded and shaped bells im- 

 aginable. 



There is no mistaking this flower for a moment. 

 No other approaches it in exquisiteness, except, 

 perhaps, that second moorland plant, the bog 

 pimpernel, and that only from a great distance. 

 It is that which awakened the enthusiasm of the 

 great botanist, and after him was called Linncea 

 borealis. Its presence is another sign of age. It 

 is not uncommon in Scots woods that have been 

 undisturbed. If only occasionally noticed, that is 

 because it is so easily overlooked, even when in 

 flower, by the unobservant. We swear a vow of 

 secrecy over that Linncea, because we know that 

 many would be glad to take it away. 



The trailing willow is all over the floor of the 

 wood, lighting it up with its long yellow male 

 catkins. A great space is beautified by the 

 mountain globe flower, found in these patches, and 

 not again till the mountains are reached. It is the 

 largest, and certainly the most graceful, of our 

 yellow wild flowers, with great soft balls of loosely 

 incurved petals, as big as the closed hand of a 

 lady. 



At least four orchids grow in this wood among 

 them the rose-coloured, sweet-scented orchid, and 



