266 Mr. J. T. Syme on some Plants observed in Orkney. 



XXVI. — Notice of some of the rarer Plants observed in Orkney 

 during the Summer o/'1849. By John T. Syme, Esq.* 



Having passed tlie greater part of last summer in Orkney, and 

 during that time having examined the natural history of the 

 parts of it which I visited, I now lay before the Society a notice 

 of a few of the rarer plants which I observed. I would have 

 drawn up a list of all the species which I met with, but as I had 

 opportunities of botanizing only in the southern part of the 

 mainland and in the islands of Hoy, Burray and Flota, I have 

 thought it advisable to defer this until I shall have made some 

 acquaintance with the botany of the other islands, which I hope 

 to accomplish next summer. 



The flora of Orkney is by no means extensive, and excepting 

 some alpine plants which are found at a lower elevation than 

 usual, it embraces very few species of interest ; — as is to be ex- 

 pected from its bare and treeless condition and the uniformity 

 of its geological formation; the old red sandstone, with here 

 and there a trap-dyke, being the only rock to be met with ; while 

 the incessant winds charged with saline particles and the low 

 summer temperature forbid the growth of the more tender 

 plants, as well as those which rise above the shelter of the sur- 

 rounding vegetation. 



In addition to these adverse circumstances, by far the greater 

 proportion of the ground is flat and moorish, which still more 

 contributes to give a sameness to the vegetation ; so that I think 

 we may account for the paucity of species from the physical con- 

 ditions of the Orkney islands, without having recourse to any 

 theory of centres of vegetation and migration of plants. 



1 shall now proceed to give the names of the plants I met 

 with, nearly in the order in which I noticed them, with the 

 dates when the various trips were made, as extracted from my 

 journal. 



On the 5th of June last, I went on board the screw steamer 

 " Northman,^' at Leith, and after a tedious passage of forty hours, 

 arrived in Kirkwall Bay. The morning was wet and windy, but 

 being impatient to examine the botany and entomology of a 

 district new to me, and feeling the desire of again walking on 

 terra firma, as is natural to a landsman after a sea voyage of 

 longer duration than he is accustomed to, I set out for Swan- 

 bister, the place of my destination, about eight miles south-west of 

 Kirkwall. I soon found, however, that novelties or even rarities 

 were not to be expected, for I did not in the whole of my walk 

 find a single plant worth drying. 



In the town of Kirkwall I saw Stachys ambigua (not yet in 



* Read before the Botanical Society of Edinburgh, Feb. 14, 1850. 



