8 LOCALITIES OF RARER BRITISH PLANTS 
the character of Welsh scenery became somewhat prominent. 
The skirts and sides of the hangers (hills) were well clothed with 
trees, but the bare summits and peaks of the hills considerably 
overtopped the vegetation. The vale of Meivod is one of the 
loveliest scenes in North Wales. ‘There is no sterility, with the 
exception of the peaks and ridges above mentioned. The whole 
is cultivated and beautified by human labour. The sides of the 
hills are covered with corn or with sheep, the meadows by the 
river are clothed with luxuriancy of vegetation of the greenest 
shade. The beautiful river is overhung or overshaded or con- 
cealed by fine foliage, the water alternately glancing in the clear 
light or concealed by the leafy or rushy vegetation which fringes 
its banks. 7 
At Meivod there is a very large churchyard, an important 
feature in these days of sanitary improvement; and the east or 
chancel end of the church is covered with Lycium barbarum, a 
plant which we have noticed ‘apparently wild about Yarmouth, 
Isle of Wight. But the church is chiefly remarkable for the 
erowth of Ash, as aforesaid. 
The rain, which only threatened on the 13th, came on the 
morning of the 14th in great force. About six o’clock a.m., the 
rain abating a little, we started for Cann Office, eight or nine miles 
from Meivod. The road was miry and stiff: the adhesive mud 
formed of the limestone débris rendered walking a rather labo- 
rious exercise, and the speed of our locomotives was just about 
one-tenth of what is usual on the Great Western Railway. The 
only interesting plant which we noticed on this portion of our 
journey was Spirea salicifolia, which occurred on the right-hand 
side of the road, about a mile or two on the Meivod side of 
Cann Office, in great plenty. 'The hedge appeared rather to be 
formed of this plant, than the plant to grow in or form a part of 
the hedge: This was the case for some extent along the road. 
We observed this shrub also near Maentwrog in Merionethshire, 
in a hedge on the right-hand side coming from Trawsfinydd. 
Except in shrubberies, or in similar places, where it was pro- 
bably planted, we had never noticed this plant. It was probably 
planted where we saw it in North Wales. So is the Hawthorn, 
the common hedging-stuff of England. Hedges are always 
planted either of young shrubs grown on the spot, as Hm, etc., 
or of Thorn, which is usually raised in a nursery. But they 
