364 



NOTES ON THE FLOEA OF BEN LAIOGH, &c. . 



By G. Claridge Druce. 



The comfortable hotel at Tyndrum, placed though it be in a 

 fl howling wilderness," as I once heard it called by a London 

 tourist, is conveniently situated for botanists who wish to investigate 

 the treasures of Ben Laiogh, which is only six miles away. 



This mountain is in two counties, which are separated by a line 

 traced over the summit or watershed, the Argyll water running into 

 Loch Awe, the Perthshire streams into Loch Tay. The neighbouring 

 mountain, Ben Oss — rival we can scarcely call it — also is in two of 

 the TVatsonian vice-counties, those of West and Mid Perth ; the 

 streams of the latter draining into the Tay, while the southern 

 waters of West Perth belong to the Forth system. 



Ben Laiogh is an interesting mountain, whether considered 

 from a scenic, a geologic, or a botanical point of view. As one 

 looks at it from an altitude of 900 ft., by the Coninish burn, close 

 to the farm of that name near the mountain's base, it presents a 

 very imposing appearance, as it rears itself up in steep and almost 

 unbroken grassy slopes to the still steeper, slippery screes which are 

 crowned by rocky cliffs of an even more acute angle, breaking into 

 a handsome sky outline, which from the topmost summit bend 

 outwards and downwards into wing-shaped ridges like those that 

 encircle the Red Tarn on Helvellyn, except that the Stob Garb is 

 not such a formidable rival to Ben Laiogh as Catchedicam is to the 

 Lake District mountain. Here no mountain lake is enclosed in 

 these rocky ridges, but a little stream issues from the corries, and 

 bounding down through the grassy slopes increases the grandeur 

 of the view, especially to one who has just come from the rounded 

 summits of the granitic Cairngorms. This waterfall, which issues 

 from this large Perthshire corrie, is principally fed by springs 

 issuing from the base of the upper cliffs, and nurtures with its 

 waters a rich growth of Kobreda, Carex saxatilis, C. capUIaris, 

 Jitncus castaneus, J. trigtumi*, &c, as they rush down to join the 

 Coninish burn. 



At a height of about 1500 ft. above the sea-level may be seen, 

 on each side of the waterfall, a low line of cliffs, not springing 

 directly from its sides, but gradually appearing and increasing in 

 size as they curve round to the south and north of the stream. 

 These cliffs are of calcareous schist (the greater part of the moun- 

 tain being made up of quartzose schist with masses of home- 

 blende), which acts as a very important factor in the botany of this 

 mountain ; generally they are much seamed and broken, but 

 occasionally they have weathered into flat surfaces with very 

 narrow ledges, on which a rich growth of treasures may be found. 

 To the south they extend for some distance up the Laiogh Valley, 

 but are not there particularly rich in typical plants. Draba me&M, 

 Arabia hirsute* , however, occur on them, as well as Scnissurea. North- 

 wards they increase in size, and turn sharply round to the west, 600 

 or 600ft. above and parallel with the Coninish burn to the watershed, 



