12 BOTANICAL TOl^R IN THE 



visited, and especially as an opportunity for botanizing would be 

 afforded along the shores of Loch Vennachar, Loch Achray, and 

 through the Trosachs. 



Our short walk along the road from Callander to Kilmahog, 

 only between two and three miles, did not yield much. The 

 beauty and luxuriance of Rosa villosa, the common Red Rose 

 of Scotland, got some considerable share of our admiration, and 

 also its near connection, R. tomentosa, with white flowers, which 

 have usually a slight tinge of pink. These are the common 

 hedge Roses of the parts of Scotland which we visited. There 

 was noticed besides these, a smooth and shining-leaved Rose, not 

 then in flower, which might probably belong to the genuine Dog- 

 rose series of this genus. Spiraea salicifolia appeared frequently 

 in the hedgerows and in other bushy, shady places. That it was 

 truly wild in every station where it grew, is not affirmed ; but it 

 does not appear likely that it was ever planted for a hedge-plant, 

 for which purpose it is worthless. It is also certain that the roads 

 and the hedges too are of a very recent origin, though much of 

 the hedge- stuff may be as ancient as the forests or woods through 

 which these roads pass. These vales and passes were surely co- 

 vered with woods, as they are still, except in spots that have been 

 cleared for cultivation and for roads ; consequently we may look 

 for, and expect to see in the hedges, representatives of all the 

 ligneous vegetation of the locality or district through which the 

 road with its double hedge passes. 



One of the most conspicuous plants in these parts is Corydalis 

 claviculata, the white climbing Fumitory. This species, which 

 with us in the south of England is an insignificant, humble ob- 

 ject, imparting no character whatever to the scenery around, here 

 covers the thatched roofs of cottages, creeps over ruins and rocks, 

 somewhat like Ivy, and oftentimes completely covers, with its 

 elegant foliage and its graceful flowers, large spaces of several 

 square yards' extent. Galium boreale and several Hieracia, few 

 of them as yet in blossom, fringed the margin of the beautiful 

 and rapid stream which issues from Loch Lubnaig, " where Lub- 

 naig's loch supplies the Teith." This river flows, or rather falls 

 and rushes, through the Pass of Leny, and meets the western 

 branch of the Teith which comes from Loch Katrine through the 

 Lochs Achray and Vennachar. These two fine streams unite a 

 little above Callander, and in their fork enclose, on two sides, a 



