Plants, &c, of Selkirkshire, by Rev. J. Farquharson. 81 



south, of Scotland, and of that region which, lying between the 

 alpine zone and the marine zone of Scottish plants, is indebted 

 to neither of them for additions to the number of its species. 



To show how little the Selkirkshire Flora can claim to count 

 alpine plants among its species, notwithstanding the hilly and 

 even mountainous character of most of the district, I copy the 

 following from my note-book under date August 17th, 1866: — 

 ' ' Summit of Ettrick Pen. A dense close sward, kept down by 

 sheep, composed chiefly of Festuca ovina, Galium saxatile, Vac- 

 cinium Hyrtillus, Trichostomum lanuginosum, (?) with patches of 

 Luzula sylvatica, and Juncus squarrosus. Also more sparingly 

 Carex pilulifera, Potentilla Tormentilla, Vaccinium Vitis Idcea, An- 

 thoxanthum odoratum." On the slopes near the summit Nardus 

 stricta and Festuca ovina, often in its viviparous form, were the 

 prevalent grasses. Luzula sylvatica covered large spaces, and 

 Carex glauca was abundant. The only plants giving an alpine 

 aspect to the vegetation of this, the highest ground in the county, 

 were Saxifraga stellaris, which grows sparingly along Entertrona 

 Burn ; and Cryptogramma crispa and Lycopodium alpinum, found 

 in rough ground on the ridge of the hill. 



On August 15th, 1866, the only plant of a semi-alpine type, I 

 find noted as growing on the summit of Ward Law, in Ettrick 

 (1951 ft.), is Bubus Chamcemorus. 



True alpine vegetation is thus wanting, even on the highest 

 Selkirkshire range, although a few miles to the west, in Dum- 

 friesshire on the precipitous mountains around Loch Skene, 

 which are between 2600 and 2700 feet in height, the following 

 alpine species are abundant : — Saxifraga hypnoides and oppositi- 

 folia, Oxyria reniformis, Seduni Bhodiola, Thalictrum alpinum, 

 Fpilobium alpinum, Salix herbacea, Asplenium viride, 8fc. 



In searching for Flowering Plants and Ferns (I have paid 

 little attention to Mosses, Lichens, and Fungi, and do not profess 

 to treat of them in this paper), I have not found the most pro- 

 ductive field on the slopes and summits of the bare and smooth 

 hills, nor in the grassy and solitary side glens, nor even on the 

 margins of lochs, often so fertile in good plants elsewhere. The 

 banks of the rivers, the gravelly and bushy haughs along their 

 courses, and the woods and enclosed ground of the lower part of 

 the county have furnished the most interesting, as well as the 

 most numerous species in the following list. I offer the list to the 



