On a vast limestone tract called Creg-achnocaen, on the confines of Ross-shire 
and Sunderland : Rev. J. Ligiitfoot. Upon Carn-dearg, in Glen Creran, and 
near the top of Malmore, in Glenco, Argyleshire : Dr. Stuart. — Braes of Inver 
Naver, and common along the coast of Sunderland : W. Borrer, Esq. and Sir 
W. J. Hooker.— IRELAND. On Burren Mountains, County of Clare, abun- 
dant. County of Antrim: Mr. Templeton. Benyevena, County of Derry : 
Mr. D. Moore. Near Sligo: Withering. 
A shrubby Perennial. — Flowers in June and July. 
Root strong and woody. Stems short, clothed with the re- 
mains of the withered leaf-stalks, decumbent, entangled, somewhat 
shrubby, branched ; branches upright, leafy. Leaves evergreen, 
stalked (petiolate), simple, egg-oblong, obtuse, about an inch long,* 
their margins revolute, and strongly, though bluntly serrated ; 
smooth, wrinkled, and of a deep shining green above ; white and 
cottony, with a reddish rib beneath. Petioles longer than the 
leaves, with a pair of long, awl-shaped, hairy stipulas, united to 
the base of each. Peduncles ( flower-stalks ) solitary, downy, the 
down mixed with purple glands or bristles. Flowers large, about 
an inch in diameter. Calyx usually in 8 equal, uniform, cottony 
and bristly segments, sometimes in 10, very rarely in 6. Corolla 
of as many, somewhat inversely egg-shaped, white petals, as there 
are segments of the calyx. Styles densely feathery and silky, 
straight, without any joint or curvature, lengthening out, as the 
flower fades, into long feathery awns to the seeds. 
This elegant evergreen plant is a native of the Alps, and other mountainous 
situations, in many parts of Europe ; ornamenting them with its germander-like 
leaves, white flowers, and feathery heads of seeds. — There are, perhaps, few 
plants more interesting to the Botanist than those which inhabit these elevated 
regions; many of them may be ranked among the most lovely productions of the 
vegetable world, and their elegant forms, brilliant colours, and, often, diminutive 
size, have not unfrequently attracted the notice, and excited the admiration, of 
the most casual observer ; but how sublime must have been the feelings of Mrs. 
Sigourney, when, on contemplating the beauty of these “ living flowers that 
skirt the eternal frost,” she penned to them the following delightful and ani- 
mated address. 
“ Meek dwellers mid yon terror-stricken cliffs ! 
With brows so pure, and incense-breathing lips. 
Whence are ye ? — Did some white- rvinged messenger 
On Mercy’s missions trust your timid germ 
To the cold cradle of eternal snows ? 
Or, breathing on the callous icicles. 
Bid them with tear-drops nurse ye 1 
Tree nor shrub 
Dare that drear atmosphere ; no polar pine 
Uprears a veteran front ; yet there ye stand. 
Leaning your cheeks against the tliick-ribbed ice, 
And looking up with brilliant eyes to Him 
Who bids you bloom unblanched amid the waste 
Of desolation. Man, who, panting, toils 
O’er slippery steeps, or, trembling, treads the verge 
Of yawning gulfs, o’er which the headlong plunge 
Is to eternity, looks shuddering up, 
And marks ye in your placid loveliness — 
Fearless, yet frail — and, clasping his chill hands. 
Blesses your pencilled beauty. ’Mid the pomp 
• Of mountain summits rushing on the sky. 
And chaining the rapt soul in breathless awe. 
He bows to bind you drooping to his breast. 
Inhales your spirit from the frost-winged gale, 
And freer dreams of heaven.” 
