184 HIGHLAND WILD FLOWERS 



(blush) and album (white), are infinitely superior to 

 the common form. 



In flowering shrubs we islanders are far from strong, 

 for when gorse, broom, hawthorn in many varieties, 

 the shrubby potentil (Potentilla fruticosa), the guelder 

 rose, the wayfaring tree, and the wild roses have been 

 ticked off, there remains little else save blackthorn 

 and brambles, for lavender and rosemary owe no 

 allegiance as British subjects. 



Among the herbs mentioned above, none is uncom- 

 mon. No account has been made of such rare things 

 as the blue Menziesia, the little mountain azalea 

 (Loiseleuria procumbens), the brown and gold lady's 

 slipper (Cypripedium calceolus) and others which, 

 although indigenous to the United Kingdom, have 

 been so nearly exterminated by the sinister diligence 

 of collectors that the gardener must look to foreign 

 sources for a supply. The commonest wild flowers 

 respond to culture as freely as exotics. The birdsfoot 

 trefoil, for instance, will spread into a great cushion 

 of gold, and the lowly milkwort make as rich a tuft 

 as the blue lobelia, if means are provided to spare 

 them the struggle for existence with more robust plants 

 which they have to undergo in their natural haunts. 

 The common British daisy is an example of a weed 

 lending itself to cultivation and rewarding the culti- 

 vator by a great variety of pink, white, and crimson 

 forms. 



In striking contrast to the bright blossom on hill 

 and river-side is the desolate appearance of the birch 

 woods in upper Helmsdale. Hundreds of acres have 



