LAWSON OCCURRENCE OF HEATHER IN CAPE BRETON. 31 



be sufficient to show that Calluna vulgaris, the common heather of 

 Scotland, is a genuine native of our Province of Nova Scotia. 

 When in Cape Breton Island in August last, I obtained informa- 

 tion from L. Robertson, Esq., of North Sydney, which led me to 

 make special enquiry at St. Ann's, in the County of Victoria. On 

 reaching that place I found that the Calluna was growing in a bit 

 of boggy land among stumps of spruce trees, on an uncleared part 

 of Ulston Farm, belonging to John Robertson, Esq., President of 

 the St. Ann's Agiicultural Society, who proceeded with me to the 

 s^jot, and informed me that he had known the plant to have ex- 

 isted there for about ten years. It was originally noticed by a 

 highlander when mowing, who immediately ran to his master, 

 exclaiming: ''I have found heather!" Full enquiry was made 

 on the spot as to the whole circumstances, and I could not ascer- 

 tain any fact tending in the slightest degree to indicate that the 

 Calluna had been planted at St. Ann's. On the contrary, I be- 

 lieve it to be a genuine native. There was only a sm^all patch of 

 it, not more than a yard across, and it had been pretty well eaten 

 down by cattle. Mr. Robertson kindly promised to have a fence 

 put round it to preserve it from farther injury. The " surround- 

 ings" of the heather at St. Ann's are most appropriate. Both the 

 scenery and vegetation resemble those of the Scottish Highlands. 

 The cloudberry (Ruhus chamcemonis), sundew, and many other 

 highland plants, were abundant on the neighbouring hills. The 

 Calluna station is probably not more than one hundred feet above 

 the sea level. 



Within the last few years an animated controversy has been 

 going on among both European and American botanists as to whe- 

 ther the Calluna is really indigenous to the American Continent or 

 to adjacent Islands. This is in reality a matter of great interest in a 

 strictly scientific point of view, for it has important bearings on the 

 questions of distribution, age and origin of species, and therefore, 

 a reference to the opinions expressed and facts adduced by others, 

 may not be unacceptable as an appendix to my own observations. 



The Calluna is very general throughout Europe, spreading over 

 extensive tracts of land in Britain, to which it gives the name of 

 "heaths," and over the Continent generally, (not by any means 



