86 
Even a collector of plants who takes no such care, will not 
do much harm in a general way, because he will only take 
as many specimens of a plant as he can dry. The real 
destroyers of plants are those who collect them for the 
market for sale. In Llandudno, for instance, the market is 
supplied with ferns and rare plants in prodigious numbers : 
these are purchased by visitors, as just now it is the fashion 
to take roots of wild plants on returning home. It is clearly 
the interest of those persons who supply the markets to 
clear the neighbourhood of rare plants, so that the visitor 
who wants them must buy them in the market. A very 
few years ago AswBmvtiiii adiantiim-mgrum was one of the 
very common ferns around Llandudno ; last May I wished 
to show it to a friend, and could not find a single frond 
nearer than a lane at Gloddaeth. One day in May I saw 
in the market almost a cart load of roots of AUosurus cris~ 
pus, and, what was more to be regretted, a number of roots of 
Coto7ieaster. As long as these dealers find purchasers they 
will continue to root up the rare plants ; but if visitors 
would only consider that the great charm of our wild plants 
is to see them growing in their native places, and not to 
take away roots purchased in the market, which will rarely 
live when they are removed, this destruction would soon 
cease, and the natural yearly increase of the plants would 
be sufficient to supply those who would go and gather for 
themselves. 
The neighbourhood of Llandudno is very rich in Com- 
posite, but I was too early in May to find many of them 
in flower. 
Silybum Marianum is found in many places, and seems 
quite at home near the summit of the Little Ormes Head. 
Serratula tinctoria, Cichorium Intybus, Helminthci 
echioides , Hypochceris maculata, are conspicuous along with 
several of the rarer species of Hieracium. Perhaps the 
rarest of the Compositae is 
