88. On the Leafing of certain Trees, by Rev. J. Farquharson 



Number of native species recorded in List now given - 453 

 ,, species certainly introduced, now naturalised 16 



,, observed by Mr Brother'ston - - 15 



Total Selkirkshire Flowering Plants and Ferns - "484 

 The Mosses and Lichens of the county are well worth observing. 

 That rarities are in store for sharp eyes was proved by the exhi- 

 bition, at the Selkirk meeting of the Club, of fine specimens of 

 Buxbaumia aphylla, found a few days before on Foulshiels Hill, 

 near the town, by Mr James Noble, cabinet-maker, Selkirk, an 

 enthusiastic local botanist. 



Note on the Leafing, &c., of certain Trees. By the Rev. J. 

 Farquhakson, M.A., Selkirk. 



Since the year 1861, I have marked the dates at which a few 

 trees around the Manse respectively show their first expanded 

 leaves or flowers. The number of species is small ; but as the 

 observations have been made with care, and always with refer- 

 ence to the same individual trees, the dates, which I now bring 

 together from a series of miscellaneous garden notes, may have 

 some interest in themselves, and also as affording a few data by 

 which to compare our upland climate with that of the lower and 

 sea-side regions visited by the Club. 



The Plane {Acer Pseudo-platanus), which has been the sub- 

 ject of observation, is in a very exposed situation, but does 

 not seem to fall behind its fellows on that account. Its first 

 tender leaves are always seen at the same spot, in a hollow 

 among the branches towards the top of the tree, and on the 

 side sheltered from our violent S.W. winds. 



The Maple (Acer platanoides) is also very much exposed, and 

 I fear may not long afford a subject of observation. Its limbs, 

 more brittle than those of the Plane, have yielded to successive 

 gales, until now it has lost about a third of the bulk it possessed 

 in 1861. It is the flowering of this species I have noted — not the 

 bursting of the flower-clusters from the enclosing scales, but the 

 first opening of individual flowers in the clusters. Sometimes 

 the general flower-bud is open two or three days before the 

 separate flowers expand. 



