1911-1912.] A Mid- Lothian Burn, 391 



be interesting to offer some notes on the botany of the 

 burn-side. 



The immediate neighbourhood of the stream provides 

 during the spring and summer months an interesting and 

 varied succession of wild plants. In some of the upper 

 reaches the banks are clad with a natural growth of trees and 

 shrubs, among which alders and willows predominate. The 

 display of catkins which such a vegetation furnishes in early 

 spring is remarkable. Of low - growing plants, the lesser 

 celandine, the butter-bur, and wild garlic are abundant in 

 many places, while, with the exception of one particular 

 locality, the primrose and wild hyacinth are of less frequent 

 occurrence. With the disappearance of the spring flowers, 

 patches of the greater stitchwort and red campion take their 

 place, along with a variety of umbelliferous plants, like the 

 hedge parsley and sweet cicely. 



As spring advances into summer, the character and variety 

 of flowers and plants are an index of the richness of the soil 

 and of the genial conditions under which the vegetation 

 flourishes. In its lower course the stream has cut out for 

 itself a deep channel through the rich loam of the corn-lands. 

 Here the flora is extremely vigorous in growth. In the still 

 eddies of the burn may be found the marsh-marigold and the 

 flote-grass, while the edges of the deeper pools show a lux- 

 uriant growth of the bur - reed, the great willow-herb, and 

 the reed canary grass. On the banks we meet with the 

 following in comparatively great abundance : Leopard's-bane, 

 a beautiful yellow composite, an alien which has now estab- 

 lished itself in many localities ; yellow rocket or bitter winter 

 cress; the two species of comfrey {Sym^phytum officinale and 

 tuberosum), meadow cranesbill, the largest of the wild geraniums 

 native to Scotland; water figwort, an uncommon species in 

 many parts of the country, but abundant in Gogar Burn ; 

 wild valerian, and water mint. 



The natural vegetation of the fields that encroach on the 

 banks is of quite a different character, but as not strictly 

 belonging to the stream we take no note of it. Among the 

 rarer plants found close to the stream may be enumerated the 

 following: Cuckoo-pint or lords-and-ladies (Arum macu- 

 latum), the common gromwell, a plant not common in the 



