A BOTANICAL TOUR THROUGH SOUTH WALES, &c. 
207 
Whoever botanizes with me must with me digress; for, as the Sea-mew, winging 
with shrill cry round and round in the air, still stoops to the element from which 
she sprung, and anon rests upon the restless wave, so must I, in the spectacle 
Nature presents to the unscientific eye, at intervals revel, if it be but to show that 
the botanist is not merely the picker up of the “ unconsidered trifles ” in general 
supposed,* but that in fact the philosopher may not be ashamed to derive some 
of his happiest illustrations from botanical subjects. But I must again to work, 
and present the following plants as falling under my notice principally at the 
eastern part of the Cromlyn morass, and in its boundary ditches, for I found it 
impracticable to pierce the centre without absolute danger, and in case of accident 
no assistance appeared near at hand. 
Hypericum elodes. In a trench between the morass and the canal, where 
the bog can be crossed. 
*Rubus suberectus. On the side of the same trench in hussooky spots. 
*Comarum palustre. Very abundant and luxuriant in various parts of the 
bog, its dark purple flowers giving it a strange aspect. 
Menyantkes trifoliata. A general concomitant of the Welsh bogs, from an alti¬ 
tude of upwards of 2,000 feet down to the sea-level, where I here observed 
it. Of course it is less luxuriant in the Alpine stations, where it does 
not seem to flower very freely. Its fringed blossoms have often been the 
theme of admiration, and deservedly so. 
Lysimackia vulgaris. By no means common., as its names implies, and a great 
ornament to the side of any stream of water where its brilliant yellow 
panicled clusters glitter in the sun. This plant varies considerably in 
its aspect, and hence I conceive the report of L. punctata having been 
found in Britain has arisen. I gathered a specimen in a damp place by 
the side of a wood at Neath with the leaves whorled in fours, their under 
side and the stem and peduncles very downy. The leaves and their 
margins were minutely spotted with what appear to be small hard red 
glands, when held to the light and examined with a lens. I would not 
venture to affirm this to be L. punctata., but perhaps a similar plant has 
been taken for it. 
Samolus valerandi. Abundant in marshy spots between the canal and the sea. 
One of the few cosmopolitan plants, having been found in Africa and 
Australia, whence no one would take the trouble to transport it. 
* It is the common fault of botanists, and indeed of scientific naturalists in general, to be too 
exclusively absorbed in what they are pleased to consider the most important of earthly pursuits. 
It is not a little amusing to observe the total absence of poetry in many recent popular as well as 
scientific treatises on the subject—as if Natural History and Poetry had been doomed, by some 
immutable law, to remain for ever separate ! —Ed. 
