HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



in 



(Solidago virgaurea) and tutsan frequently spring 

 from the rocky sides. Ferns of course there are in 

 profusion, and from them the ravines derive their great- 

 est beauty. On the ledges the common polypody 

 often attains a great size. The mountain-buckler fern 

 (Lastrea oreopteris) is very noticeable by its frequency 

 and luxuriance. The royal fern (Osmimda regalis) 

 is found in glens, on bog-land, and even on wet sea- 

 side rocks (as at Fleshwick), and cart-loads of these 

 fine plants are taken from the northern "Curraghs" 

 to Douglas, for sale on market-days in summer. 



The stony rubbish of the South Barrule granite 

 quarries is green with parsley . fern (AUosorus 

 crispus), which inhabits some other spots also, but 

 is not common. Gorse is specially abundant and 

 luxuriant in Man, the large kind (Ulex Europeus) 

 brightening the high sod fences which form the field- 

 boundaries, "never out of blossom," the Manx saying 

 tells us, " while kissing is in fashion," and the smaller 

 (Ulex nanus) combining with the heather to cover 

 great tracts of land. The three common kinds of 

 heath are all, of course, plentiful, but perhaps the 

 most striking is the profuse and brilliant Erica cinerea, 

 which, however, is becoming rusty by the time the 

 less showy ling is at its best. Common accompani- 

 ments of heather and gorse are the milkwort, its 

 varied-coloured flowers thick in the springy hill-side 

 turf, eyebright, and, along fences and dry-stone walls, 

 foxglove. 'Where wet spots occur amid the heathy 

 ground, the seeker will be rewarded by a more exten- 

 sive range of plants. One such place recurs to my 

 memory while I write, and 1 will describe it as an 

 example of many similar. A strip of waste land fills 

 the bottom of a sequestered valley, not a quarter of a 

 mile broad. On the left-hand side, looking up the 

 valley, and close to the bounding hill, here shaded 

 by a plantation, rises a rocky natural eminence, rough 

 with bramble and bracken, its top surrounded by the 

 grassy mounds of a prehistoric fort, from among 

 which springs a clump of Scotch firs. On the right 

 is a long and broken dry-stone wall, below which the 

 ground falls rapidly to the rushy borders of an old 

 watercourse, now almost choked by weed. On this 

 ground the mountain sweet fem grows, its nearest 

 station to Douglas. Further off in the same direc- 

 tion is the river, a swift hill-stream whirling down 

 over its gravelly bed, a pair of sand-pipers flitting 

 along its margin, the heavy flight of a heron moving 

 lazily up the valley overhead. Between the river and 

 the watercourse the ground is covered with gorse and 

 rank grass, and the low bushes in early summer are 

 rich with the creamy blossoms of the bumet-rose 

 (R. spinosissima), a most abundant species here. All 

 over the waste, and on every rough hedge-bank for 

 miles, are the golden flowers of the St. John's wort, 

 well-named "pulchrum," one of the commonest and 

 loveliest of Manx wild plants. It is the "Luss-y- 

 chialg " of country people, who still use it as a tonic. 



But just before us a little stream, oozing from the 



hill, finds its way into the watercourse, and before 

 reaching the dry-stone wall soaks a bit of the heath- 

 land. Looking closer at this spot, we are aware 

 of its gorgeous colouring : rose, crimson, orange, and 

 cream-colour. There are the waxen bells of the rose- 

 heather (Erica tctralix), there the spikes of the bog- 

 asphodel (Narthecium ossifragum), and the curious 

 strong-scented heads of Hypericum elodes. The 

 spotted palmate orchis (Orchis maculata), is abun- 

 dant ; it is the only orchis at all common in Man, and 

 strives, by its appearance in every marshy spot, to- 

 make up for the absence of its relatives. The marsh 

 red-rattle (Pedicularis pahistris) rises near the 

 stream-side, less common than the smaller species, 

 which is very abundant in the island. The common 

 butterwort (Pinguicula vulgaris) rears its graceful 

 flowers like long-stalked violets, from the unctuous 

 leaves, and the pale butterwort (P. lusitanica), a by 

 no means unfrequent plant with us, shows its thinner 

 foliage and lighter-tinted flowers near the trickling 

 water, scattered here and there. There is a plentiful 

 undergrowth of sundew (Drosera rotundifolia), and of 

 the marsh-pennywort (Hydrocotyle vulgaris), the sup- 

 posed effects of which have suggested the curious 

 Manx saying, " Cha nee tra ta'n sheyrrey gee yn ouw 

 te cheet ree." "It's not when the sheep eats the 

 ' ouw ' that it (that is, the harm) comes to her." What 

 is intended to be illustrated is the certainty of the 

 evil effects of wrong-doing, though their working may 

 be slow. Bog-pimpernel also, not less delicate in its- 

 foliage than in its blossoms, mixes with the red of the 

 sundew leaves. 



In the northern " curragh" or fen, where the wet 

 land is extensive, other and some rarer species might 

 be noted. In anything like a pond or piece of still 

 water the bog-bean is sure to be found. Wet places 

 usually yield Viola pahistris, often Epilobium pa lustre 

 and Scutellaria minor, sometimes Veronica scutellata 

 and Campanula hederacea, and it is said, Radiola 

 millegrana, and Centunculus minimus ; but the plants 

 just described are the most ubiquitous and conspicuous. 



Amidst our roadside vegetation the English botanist 

 will miss Lamium album and Sisymbrium alliaria,. 

 but he will be struck by the abundance of tormentil 

 (Potenlilla tormentilld), wild sage (Teucrium scoro- 

 donia), Pepperwort (Lepidium campestre), and wall- 

 penny wort ( Cotyledon umbilicus). Here and there the 

 rose-bay willow-herb (Epilobium angustifolmm) decks 

 the hedges. The ivy-leaved toad-flax, another stray 

 of cultivation, grows frequently on walls and cottage- 

 roofs. Quite a feature of Manx roadside waste 

 places, especially in the south, is Smyrnium olusa- 

 trum ; its vivid and glossy foliage is luxuriant in the 

 neighbourhood of the old abbey of Rushen, and 

 along the straggling high-road streets of the Soulhside 

 villages. In this part of the island, where limestone 

 takes the place of the prevailing schist rock, the 

 vegetation somewhat changes. Potentilla repians, 

 scarcely seen about Douglas, becomes plentiful by 



