Flora of Scottish Lakes. 
171 
1909 - 10 .] 
Flammula and the little R. reptans, which, however, is rather scarce 
here ; Hydrocotyle vulgaris, Spiraea Ulmaria, Galium palustre, Deschampsia 
caespitosa, Hypnum fluitans, H. cuspidatum, and Aulcomnium palustre. 
Loch Leven is situated in the lowest part of a somewhat oval strath 
called the Plain of Kinross, which is bounded by the Cleish Hills, Benarty 
Hill, the Lomond Hills, and the Ochil Hills (fig. 114). It is somewhat 
pear-shaped in outline, with the apex lying to the south-east. It is 3f miles 
long by 2§ miles wide at the broadest part. The surface of the loch is 350 
feet above sea level : and as the land for some distance around is below the 
400-feet level, it must at a former period have been very much larger. It 
was artificially reduced in size in 1845, when its level was lowered 4J feet. 
On account of the shallow marginal zone, this slight lowering of the level 
reduced the area by about 1400 acres. For its size it is an extremely 
shallow loch, the greater portion of it being less than 15 feet deep. Indeed, 
along the east shore an area almost 3 miles long by nearly a mile broad is 
mostly less than 9 feet deep. It has, however, two depressions, each having 
a depth of about 80 feet, one to the west of St Serf’s Island, and the other 
to the north-east of Scart Island. If the affluent were lowered 22 feet, so 
as to reduce the level of the loch by that amount, about 3000 acres of 
land would be reclaimed. There are six islands in the loch. The largest 
of them, called St Serf’s Island, has an area of about 80 acres ; it is 
quite treeless, and is utilised as a rabbit warren. Castle Island is covered 
with deciduous trees, and has an extent of about 5 acres (fig. 115). The 
outline of both these islands curiously resembles that of the loch, but 
their apices lie in the reverse direction. The other islands are quite small. 
The shores are everywhere flat and usually sandy, particularly on the east 
side, where the sand is sometimes blown into small dunes. More rarely the 
shore is composed of stones, or there is no shore because meadow-land 
comes down to the water’s edge. In a few places there is a narrow zone 
of marsh extending a considerable distance along the shore, as, for example, 
upon both the east and south sides, opposite St Serf’s Island (figs. 116 and 
117). In many places there are large quantities of vegetable remains, chiefly 
those of Chara and Anacharis, lying upon the shore at the winter water 
level. The fiat shores of this loch are in many parts very much exposed to 
wind, and due to this influence is the fact that some plants which ordinarily 
grow erect here assume a prostrate habit, such, for example, as Equisetum 
arvense, E. palustre, Juncus bufonius, J. acutiflorus, J. supinus, Ranunculus 
Flammula, etc. There are two or three associations of Phragmites com- 
munis, as well as of Heleocharis palustris and Equisetum limosum, that enter 
the water here and there, otherwise there are no plants of semi-aquatic type 
