Mr. Stuart's Account of some rare Plants. 77 



seen on ballast hills on the Fife coast, in which county I have 

 myself gathered it at Elie. As the name denotes, it is gene- 

 rally found growing amongst rubbish, and so is quite at home 

 on a ballast hill ; and, were it not for the frequent floods by 

 which the places I found it on must be devastated, I doubt 

 not it would make a permanent residence amongst us, for 

 looking to its ' rubbish ' requirements only, no place could 

 be more suitable than the bed of the Gala. 



Lepidium sativum, L., is not unfrequent about Melrose 

 and Galashiels ; at the latter place it is in fact common, and 

 appears to be quite naturalised in the bed of the stream. It 

 is a native of the East, but is now quite established in many 

 places in this country. I have gathered two varieties of it 

 this year : — 1. The ordinary plain-leaved variety grown in 

 gardens as a salad. 2. The curled-leaved variety, which is 

 principally used as a garnish. 



Malachium aquatictjm, Fr., I found in one place only 

 on the north bank of the Tweed a little above Bridge End. 

 Mr. Syme says : " it is rather uncommon. Pretty widely 

 distributed in England as far north as Yorkshire and Cheshire, 

 but not known to occur in Scotland." (S.E.B.) I find, 

 however, that it is included in the list of plants found in 

 Roxburghshire, which is published in Jeffrey's History of 

 that county ; but the writer of the list says that he never saw 

 it himself, and he adds " if it exists at all it must be very rare." 

 This plant resembles Stellaria nemorum at first sight pretty 

 closely, and it is also not unlike some of the larger forms of 

 Stellaria media, but by the generic characters it can be at once 

 distinguished from either of these plants. Besides the scien- 

 tific characters there are some empirical ones which may be 

 given. From Stellaria nemorum it may be distinguished 

 by its smaller flowers ; by its prostrate stem, which is much 

 branched; by its shorter barren shoots, and by its having 

 more of its leaves sessile. From Stellaria media on the other 

 hand it is known by its larger flowers, by its always having 

 ten stamens, and by the stem being usually hairy all round. 

 The hairs are gland tipped in Malachium, and are not arti- 

 culated as in Stellaria. 



Erodium moschatum, Sm., was found by Mr. Borthwick 

 and myself in a field among rubbish, not far below Galashiels. 

 It bears a considerable resemblance to its congener cicutarium, 

 but is a larger and coarser plant, checked though it be by our 

 crabbed northern climate. In the south of England and in the 



