584 GLENS CANLOCHEN AND DOLE. [October, 



I 



next ledges Dryas octopetala turns up, in flower and fruit, with 

 Saussurea alpinS,Erigeron alpinus, and next,, that rarity of rarities, 

 the gem of Canlochen, Gentimia nivalis, which seems to have 

 thought this glen alone, of all others in Great Britain, so nearly- 

 like its native home in the Alps of Switzerland, as to condescend 

 to grace it with its presence. I found it in two different places 

 along the same ledge of rocks at the head of the glen, and my 

 companion found it as well, and in much greater abundance, on 

 some rocks on the eastern side. So there is little fear of its ex- 

 tinction ; indeed the only wonder is that it should have been 



hitherto: as it seems, confined entirelv to Canlochen, Carices 



. " -J 



abound, as may be supposed, of which the best are C atrata, 



vaginatU, cainllaris, and Fersoonii. Alopecurus alpinus also grows 

 in several places, according to M'Gillivray and Gardiner, although 

 we were not fortunate enough to light upon a specimen, together 

 with Juncus castaneus and Poa alpina. V/e ought moreover to 

 have found Thlaspi aJpestre and Mulgedium alpinum, both of 

 which have been gathered in the glen, but considering the short 

 time that we spent there at each of our visits, we could hardly 

 expect to find everything that was known to grow there. Such 

 however is the profusion with which the rare alpine plants are 

 dispersed, that a very short search serves to fill the vasculum of 

 the delighted Lowlander, who never, in all his dreams of botanical 

 treasures hidden in these Highland glens, ventured to raise his 

 expectations half so high as the actual facts of the case would 

 have justified him in doing. M^Gillivray thus sums up the charms 

 of this glen, picturesque as well as scientific: "This is a most lovely 

 specimen of a corry, to which there is nothing equal in the neigh- 

 bouring county, either in its beautiful proportions, or its brilliant 

 verdure, much less in the number of its alpine plants. It is 

 bounded by rugged precipices, scarred and shattered, grey, black, 

 red, and of various tints, some of them seamed with white quartz, 

 and all overspread with shelves of bright-green grass, on which 

 grows a profusion of alpine and subalpine plants, mingled with 

 those of the valleys and plain. On the right, looking south, are 

 two great masses of red porphyry, separated by a scar. The 

 nearer margin is abrupt, and there is interspersed an avalanche 

 of detritus between it and a narrow and low ridge of rock, also 

 chiefly of porphyry, which in hke manner is succeeded by a broad 

 scar. There, forming the upper part of the valley, and imme- 



