264 THE DEER FORESTS OF SCOTLAND. 



of British field flowers may be met with in the 

 Braemore meadows, but many less familiar species 

 may be found, amongst which the following are 

 worthy of notice. In the beds of the burns the 

 earliest of the spring flowers may be found in the 

 Purple Mountain Saxifrage {Saxifrigis oppostifolia), 

 whose rosy bell often appears before the end of 

 February, while the hills are yet white with snow. 



The Rose Bay or French Willow Herb (Equi- 

 lobrium angustifioluim) is still occasionally found, 

 although Macculloch, writing in 1824, says it was then 

 very plentiful on Loch Broom. The Cloud Berry 

 (Rubus chaemaemorus), together with the Dwarf Cornel 

 [Comus snecica), so common in Norway, are both 

 found at an altitude of 2,000 feet, and not far from 

 the same spot also grows the Grass of Parnassus 

 (Parnassicz palustris) and the Water Lobelia {Lobelia 

 dortinamea). The Floating Barweed {Spargannum 

 natans), a plant peculiar to the north, grows in the 

 Home Loch near Braemore House. A patch of 

 the rare and diminutive trailing Azalea {Azalea 



