166 THROUGH THE FIELDS WITH LINN^US 



Here the butter was remarkable for its fine yellow 

 colour, approaching almost to a reddish or saffron hue ; 

 wherever the birch abounded the pasture-ground was 

 of the best quality. In the school here were only 

 eight scholars. The church was in a miserable state. 



'At Whitsuntide this year no Laplanders were at 

 church, the pike happening to spawn just at that 

 time. This fishery constitutes the chief trade of these 

 people, and they were therefore, now, for the most part 

 dispersed among the Alps, each in his own tract, in 

 pursuit of this object. Divine service being over, on 

 May 31 I left Lycksele in order to proceed towards 

 Sorsele.' 



In this tour he describes the Linncea borealis. His 

 own ' neglected fate and early maturity are said to be 

 typified by it.' He gathered it at Lycksele on May 29, 

 and chose it for his own especial flower. Hitherto this 

 elegant and singular little plant had been called Cam- 

 panula serpyllifolia, thyme-leaved bell-flower; but 

 Linnaeus, prosecuting the study of vegetables on his 

 new principle, 1 soon found this to constitute a new 

 genus. He reserved the idea, keeping it warm in his 

 heart, till his discoveries and publications had entitled 

 him to botanical commemoration, and his friend Grono- 

 vius, in due time, with his concurrence, undertook to 

 make this genus known to the world. It was published 

 by Linnaeus himself in the c Genera Plantarum,' 1 737, and 

 in the same year in the ' Flora Lapponica,' with a plate. 



1 Smith. 



