8 BOTANICAL TOtR IN THE 



teresting memorials of bygone times. The situation of the town 

 is commanding, scarcely yielding to that of Edinburgh itself. 

 The botanical objects of interest about Stirling are not very nu- 

 merous, but they are not quite absent. In the churchyard of 

 the High Church (which, like several other large sacred edifices 

 in Scotland, accommodates two congregations), there is abundance 

 of Myrrhis odorata. This plant is as plentiful here as the gout- 

 weed, dEgopodium Podagraria, is about most towns and villages 

 in Scotland : this latter is the commonest of Scotland's umbel- 

 liferous urban or wayside plants, as Bunium flexuosum is the 

 common umbellifer of her fields and woods. On the ramparts of 

 the castle a solitary example of Vicia lathyroides was gathered ; 

 Tanacetum vulgare, Echium vulgare, and Rumex pulcher, near the 

 old bridge, this Dock is by no means general in Scotland, so far 

 as our observation extends. A few other suburban plants were 

 noticed. 



After a very agreeable stroll of three hours' duration about the 

 King's Park, the banks of the Forth, the bridges and environs 

 of Stirling, we went by rail to Dunblane, famous for being once 

 the See of the pious and liberal Bishop Leighton, whose memory 

 has entirely perished in the scene of his ministerial labours. An 

 interesting chapter might be written about Dunblane and its 

 ecclesiastical divisions ; but our business here is with the unities 

 and beauties of Nature, and therefore we forbear to enlarge upon 

 the disagreeable themes of civil and religious strife, of which this 

 little city has been the passive witness for centuries. 



As we commenced, strictly speaking, our botanical tour at 

 Dunblane > for here we first used, on air extensive scale, the 

 conveyance wherewith Nature bountifully provided us, our 

 readers may look for a more detailed account of our proceedings 

 on our onward progress. 



