[October, 1857.] ' 225 



SCOTTISH BOTANY. 



Notes of an Excursion in the Districts of Kinross, Clackmannan, 

 and Fife. By the Rev. Hugh Macmillan, F.B.S.E., etc. 



The excursions of which I intend giving a short account in 

 the following pages were not originally planned for the investi- 

 gation of the plants of these districts, and hence I hope to be 

 pardoned by the reader if I introduce the descriptive element 

 into it oftener than is usually done in the Papers which appear in 

 this magazine. 



The topographical features of the districts are remarkably 

 beautiful and diversified. The hills rise in easy undulations^ or 

 swell into j:hose round, conical tops, so characteristic of the Old 

 Red Sandstone or Devonian system, which exhibit the most pleas- 

 ing and varied effects of light and shade on their surface ; and 

 in the plains, where the strata lie flat, the scenery is very rich 

 and well wooded, the fields being fertile and covered with the 

 finest loam ; hence, of the English type, or the southern species 

 of plants, there is comparatively a large number to be found in 

 the districts. As some of the summits of the Ochil range ex- 

 ceed 2000 feet in height, they produce a somewhat alpine vegeta- 

 tion, indicated by the presence of such plants as Galium boreale, 

 Saxifraga aizoides, Epilobium alsinifolium, Saxifraga stellaris 

 and hypnoides, and Juncus triglumis, which are found in abun- 

 dance on the lower slope of the lofty Grampian Hills beyond, 

 and some of which seem here to have attained their southern 

 limits in Scotland, Of Watson's Highland type, there are nu- 

 merous representatives in the district, such as Galium pusillum,, 

 /3 laxius of Koch, Trientalis europaeus, Polygonum viviparum, 

 Epilobium angustifolium, Rubus saxatilis, Listera cordata, Sedum 

 villosum, Circcea alpina, Carex pilulifera, C. pallescens, C. fulva, 

 and C. binervis, Habenaria viridis, TroUius europeeus, Pyrola 

 secunda, Parnassia palustris, Cnicus heterophyllus, Hymenopihyl- 

 lum Wilsoni, Asplenium viride, Eleocharis multicaulis, Poa mon- 

 tana, Allosorus crispus, Viola lutea, etc., which are found, some- 

 times in abundance, in the upland woods, and on the moors and 

 hills. With these introductory remarks, T shall now commence 

 to give a detailed account of my excursions in the districts I 

 have thus broadly described. 



N. S. VOL. II. 2 G 



