85. CYPEEACEiE. 81 



Eriophorum alpinum, Linn. 



Area [7 * 15 * 17]. 



Incoimit ? Discovered in tlie Moss of Eestennet, about 

 three miles eastward of Forfar, in the year 1791, by Mr. 

 George Don and Mr. (Eobert ?) Brown ; but subsequently 

 lost there by drainage. Three other county habitats have 

 also been given, but under circumstances that prevent re- 

 liance upon them, while unverified. In Denbighshire, 

 according to the Faunula Grustensis. On the mountains 

 of Breadalbane, in Perthshire, according to Mr. Somer- 

 viUe, in Flora Scotica, &c. And said to have been picked 

 by Dr. Balfour, in Durness, Sutherland, so long ago as 

 August, 1827, according to a Report of the Botanical So- 

 ciety of Edinburgh, m Bot. Gaz. ii. 53. The county is 

 likely enough, it must be admitted ; but after a lapse of 

 more than twenty years, it is safer to suppose some inad- 

 vertent mingling of specimens, than to rely upon the un- 

 confirmed and most vague evidence adduced. It is said 

 that Dr. Balfom% then a student, mistook the plant for 

 Scu'pus csespitosus. But did Professor Graham, in whose 

 company he went to Sutherland, also mistake the plant ? 

 And did Professor Balfour continue to make this mistake 

 till the year 1850, after having doubtless seen and pos- 

 sessed foreign or garden specimens of Eriophorum alpi- 

 num? 



VOL. ni. M 



