1 9 1 2-1 9 1 3.] 6"0?/Z£ Aspects of Plant-Life. 1 1 



skinned, fleshy leaves and stems well adapted to conserve the 

 little moisture that is available. Or we might compare the 

 similar arid stretches of the Australian bush, the " never- 

 never " land with its salt brush and sweet-briar, the latter 

 blossoming and scenting the waterless desert as freely as it 

 adorns our hedgerows at home. 



Leaving the wind-swept and rather bleak moorlands, and 

 coming to scenes where plants flourish among more genial 

 conditions, we may take as a good example one of those 

 beautiful daisy-meadows where the turf is as bejewelled and 

 thickly sown with flowers as the sky overhead is with stars, 

 and where even the lightest footfall raises fragrance from the 

 rich pasture. 



Equally beautiful to the Highlander is the meadow-land of 

 the Western Isles of Scotland, where the graceful cannach, 

 the cotton - grass, sways in the breeze like Wordsworth's 

 daffodils. 



In sheltered creeks of lakes or rivers one may find an 

 astonishing richness and variety of vegetation. Thick cypress 

 trees overhang rhododendrons ; herbaceous plants, sedges, and 

 reeds grow down into the very water, and around and beyond 

 them are anchored the fair chalices of water-primroses and 

 lilies. 



In slow-flowing rivers mare's-tails grow freely, while aroids 

 and bulrushes clothe the banks. Even on the rocky beds of 

 our streams long, ribbon - like weeds flourish, their thick 

 coating of slime protecting them against the drag of the 

 current. 



Leaving the river-banks and loch-sides and coming into the 

 woods, one is struck by the closeness with which some kinds 

 of vegetation can cover the soil. There is little space for 

 other plants to grow up in the ferny undergrowth that fringes 

 many of our woods. I hope it is not prejudice on my part, 

 but I can imagine no fairer type of landscape than our meadow- 

 lands and woodlands. 



Our deciduous woodlands, with " the mighty oak, the 

 patriarch of trees," the beech that so well blends strength and 

 beauty, the graceful birch, " the lady of the woods," the elm, 

 ash, horse-chestnut, lime, and hazel present a variety of colour 

 and form through the changing seasons that other and sunnier 



