578 THE BOTANY OF THE ALMOND. \October, 



and Mosses aud Grasses^ chiefly of the Festuca and Agrostis 

 genera^ with some few Carices in the less elevated places, com- 

 pose the turf of this nnproductive spot. Here^ elevated about 

 three hundred feet above the level of the Tay, and a mile west 

 from its banks, the humble Sedum dasyphyllum finds on these 

 barren rocks a salutary abode; in fact, it seems to be almost 

 the only plant which appears here to thrive. Now for any 

 botanist to see it there, and its general distribution on the thin 

 stratum of black mould which sparsely covers these rocks, and 

 say that the plant in question is an alien, I consider he is at 

 least egregiously mistaken. It is stated in most botanical works 

 to inhabit old walls, and near houses. Here a house never 

 stood, nor was ever a wall built. This baiTen spot is the resort 

 of sheep and goats, who fail not to crop, and that " right early," 

 the tender branches of Ornithopus peiyusillus, it being seem- 

 ingly sweet to their taste. The Sedums they leave untouched. 



5. Sedum album, like its brother S. dasyphyllum, grows here 

 plentifully in one locality, under more suspicious circumstances 

 than the other, yet I woidd not for my part consider it alien. 

 It occurs on the top of rocks, one mile from Perth, in Kinnoul 

 parish, abundantly; by the roadside from the latter place to 

 Dundee little else grows but itself except the common Ivy and 

 some few plants of Lepidium Smithii. At the foot of the rocks 

 Geranium pyrenaicum is plentiful. 



Bridge JEnd, Perth. 



THE BOTANY OF THE ALMOND. 



A Ramble on the Banks of the Almond and Methven Bog. 

 By John Sim. 



It was on a warm, sunny morning, early in August, 1858, that 

 I left Perth by rail, in order to go in search of rare plants. I 

 left the train at Almond Bank station, and walked to the "Auld 

 Brig" on the Almond, distant from the station about a mile. I 

 went up the right bank of the river about four hundred yards, 

 and then crossed to the other side on stepping-stones. I now 

 entered on botanical ground (so to speak), but, sorry to state, 

 rather late in the season ; however I endeavoured to do the best 



