77 



List of Flowering Plants and Ferns observed in Selkirk- 

 shire. By the Rev. James Farquharson, M.A., Selkirk. 

 (Read at the Selkirk Meeting, June 28th, 1876.) 



In submitting to the members of the Club a list of Selkirkshire 

 Flowering Plants and Ferns on the occasion of their first visit to 

 the district, (their most westerly excursion up to this time), it 

 may not be out of place to preface the list by a brief topographi- 

 cal sketch of the county. 



Selkirkshire, or Ettrick Forest, consists mainly of the river- 

 basins of the Ettrick and Yarrow. Towards the north it em- 

 braces also a section of the valley of the Tweed, that river for 

 about eight miles flowing within the county, and for other two 

 miles bounding it. The portion of the county north of the 

 Tweed comprises part of the lower valley of the Gala, and the 

 whole valley of the Caddon. Towards the east the county 

 passes beyond the watershed of the Ettrick, and drops down on 

 the upper waters of the Ale and Borthwick, tributaries of the 

 Teviot, including within its boundaries small portions of their 

 respective valleys. From the river -basin of the Yarrow, how- 

 ever, must be excluded that of its largest tributary, the Megget, 

 which forms part of Peeblesshire. 



The general form of the county is oblong, its longer axis fol- 

 lowing the direction of its chief streams, and running from S.W. 

 to N.E. The outline in detail is most irregular, and it is diffi- 

 cult to imagine what has dictated its capricious course. On the 

 N.W. it is dovetailed into Peeblesshire, and on the S.E. into 

 Roxburghshire in a singularly intricate manner. The outline at 

 these points has no relation to the natural features of the 

 ground, and may have been determined by the boundaries of 

 estates at the time when the limits of the county were first fixed. 



Selkirkshire is one of the smaller Scottish counties. In length 

 from the head of Ettrick to the junction of the Gala with 

 the Tweed it is about 28 miles, and in breadth from 

 Roberton to Blackhouse Heights, at the head of Douglas water, 

 about 16 miles. The surface is broken in the extreme, and con- 

 sists of alternate hill and valley, there being no table-land, nor 

 indeed any level ground except the haughs along the river 

 courses. The vales of Ettrick and Yarrow are divided from each 

 other, and from the neighbouring valleys, by three ranges of 



