Botany of the Craigmillar District. 131 



popularly as Good King Henry [Chenopodium Boniis- 

 Henricus), also found at Craigmillar. The large 

 succulent leaves of this plant are used in the same 

 way as the common or garden spinach, belonging to 

 the family of the Chenopodiacese, or Goosefoots, as 

 does also Good King Henry, Orach, Beet, &c. All 

 these plants are usually found naturalised near 

 places that have at one time been used for human 

 habitations. 



A plant not very widely distributed in the Edin- 

 burgh district, though common in other places, is 

 growing abundantly in the joints of the old masonry 

 at the castle, namely, the Common Wall Pellitory 

 {Parietaria officinalis). The Creeping Cinquefoil (Potcn- 

 tilla reptans), somewhat local in its character, is also 

 still found here, but more sparingly than it once was. 

 That lovely member of the Borage family, the Ever- 

 green Alkanet (Anchusa sevipervirens) , is noted by Mr 

 Neill as growing at Craigmillar Castle in 1799, and 

 this is just the place where one would expect to find 

 it. Though it has now become rather rare, and in 

 some seasons scarcely a single plant of it can be 



