226 WILD FLOWERS OF SCOTLAND 



a half-vexed, half-amused look as he told me the 

 sequel. One day he reached his paradise, to find it 

 despoiled ; and, some time afterward, he learned the 

 cause. Certain botanists from Edinburgh, with 

 vascula of greedy dimensions, came by chance that 

 way, and doubtless reported the spot as an ex- 

 tremely rich floral area. 



Loch Skene is flanked on one side by Whitcoom, 

 which shows its summit just over the sub-alpine 

 region some two thousand six hundred feet 

 above sea-level. This mountain is interesting as 

 forming the culminating height in these parts ; 

 moreover, it stands at the touching point of Selkirk, 

 Peebles, and Dumfries. 



In these uplands, Whitcoom holds a position 

 similar to that of those other culminating heights 

 which at once attach and separate Aberdeen, Perth, 

 and Forfar. It is the hilly centre and stronghold 

 in the south, as they are in the north. 



What is not found here need scarcely be looked 

 for elsewhere. And yet the chief rarities its 

 slopes have to offer are the alpine meadow rue, the 

 cranberry, and the veined willow. 



If they fell within the popular notion of wild 

 flowers, it would delight me to talk about the ferns ; 

 the rather as I regard these hills as the fern 



