aaa rent “7 Ne ae ay Soir MD el NOR be Vee ew ow BY a Fae, - * " re on eh ein Te “ 's 3 bs i= in Farah a Torin Te ne ments ea wee ye sn Dew tw ee wie? \ FIS\92 TRAIL, J.W.H. James William Helenu DWER1 aa Deed es Bot VC ASS A \a2. Lodinburgh Trail Memorial Volume | THE MEMORIAL TABLET James William Helenus I rail HK Memorial Volume ABERDEEN PRINTED FOR THE SUBSCRIBERS AT THE ABERDEEN UNIVERSITY PRESS 1923 PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN PREFACE. In the summer of 1919 a number of Professor James W. H. Trail’s old students discussed the possibility of presenting him with his portrait to mark their appreciation of his long and distinguished connection with the University of Aberdeen, which he had then served for over forty years, and their personal indebtedness to his teaching and character. Only preliminary discussions had taken place when his sudden death in the September of that year brought the project to an end. On the 5th of May, 1920, a meeting of a few of his old students was held in the Forestry Department, and it was decided that it would be fitting to replace the earlier proposal by a scheme for the creation of a memorial. Steps were taken to form a large and representative committee, with a local executive, and in its name an appeal for funds was issued to all Professor Trail’s former students and to his professional colleagues and friends. At a meeting of the subscribers held on the 29th of March, 1922, it was decided that the memorial should take a double form: that a mural tablet with a portrait plaque should be executed which might find a place in the new Department of Botany then being erected in the Chanonry : and that a memorial volume containing unpublished work of Professor Trail’s should be issued. The design and execution of the tablet was entrusted to Miss Alice B. Woodward, a reproduction of whose fine work Vv vi PREFACE will be found in the frontispiece plate. The head is sur- rounded by a wreath of oak leaves, acorns and galls, the galls of Scotland having formed a favourite object of Professor Trail’s studies. The decorative panel presents a dragon fly and a water spider, representative of his zoological interests ; and a bladderwort, representative of his work on the Scottish Flora. The water spider was the subject of one of his earliest, the bladderwort of one of his last contributions to biological literature. The whole is flanked by two Brazilian palms, the family which was the subject of his first important scientific work after his return from the Amazon. The principal item in the memorial volume is the “‘ Flora of the City Parish of Aberdeen,” a work on which he had been engaged for many years. The manuscript of the syste- matic record was complete, though not revised for the press. It -had been prepared for the Aberdeen Natural History and Antiquarian Society, whose permission to publish was obtained. The introductory portion was contained in four manuscripts, some fragmentary, of different (and unknown) dates, and none in finished form. Fortunately it was found possible, by slight rearrangement and the deletion of a single sentence, to combine them into a connected account. In this a good many repetitions occur, but it was thought better to accept the disadvantage entailed than to attempt extensive editing. Here and throughout the volume, which has been prepared for the press by various members of the Committee, editing has been restricted to minor corrections, and slight modifications necessary to secure uniformity. It may be noted that some of the changes, eg. in the Links, which Professor Trail dreaded have now taken place. Professor Trail’s other manuscripts passed to the Univer- sity Library. Among them was a fragment of an “ Autobio- graphy,’ and this the Library Committee gave permission to print. It has been supplemented by Mrs. Trail, and is included in the ‘‘ Biographic Sketch.” PREFACE vii The block of Parson Gordon’s map of Aberdeen was kindly lent by the proprietors of the Aberdeen Press and Journal. In this issue of Professor Trail’s own work the subscribers believe they have found the most suitable memorial to a man whose earnest work for Aberdeen University and for science has had so much influence on the many hundred students who passed through the Botany Department during the years from 1877 to 1919. Their appreciation may be ex- pressed in the words of the inscription on the Memorial Tablet— ‘““ He knew and loved the realm of living nature and inspired successive generations of students with his desire for deeper knowledge.” CONTENTS. PAGE PREFACE : : : ; - ¢ . : 5 . : * Vv BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH . 6 4 : ; meee 0 0 1 CHRONOLOGICAL BIBLIOGRAPHY . . 5 5 : 0 - 33 FLORA OF THE CITY PARISH OF ABERDEEN— INTRODUCTORY . 2 5 : : ; : : : a SYSTEMATIC RECORD . . é : : . : : 4 OY INDEX TO GENERIC NAMES c : : : : 0 . 327 mca ey re fees iS eet LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. THE MEMORIAL TABLET , ° ° ° ° ° . Lrontispiece JAMES W. H. TRAIL, 1905 . é : 3 6 : To face page 16 ABERDEEN IN 1661. : 6 . . é . 50 332 xi BIOGRAPHIC SKETCH. Some notes found among Professor Trail’s papers form the groundwork of this short sketch. They have evidently been put- together for his children, and with no idea of publication. To some of his friends and old students, however, it has seemed that they should not be lost, giving, as they do, an account of student life before the New Regulations, and also allowing a glimpse of the man himself with his ideal of work and his love for the University of Aberdeen to which he was bound by so many ties. His mother passed her girlhood in one of the houses in the old quadrangle of King’s College, while living with her brother, Professor Hercules Scott ; his father and he, himself, were members of the Senatus together for many years; his wife was a daughter of a colleague, and love for the University seemed part of the man himself. James William Helenus Trail was born on the 4th March, 1851, in the Old Manse of Birsay, Orkney; he was the youngest of the five children of the Rev. Samuel Trail, minister of the united Parishes of Harray and Birsay from 1844-68. He was so small and puny when born that it was found impossible to dress him, and he was rolled in cotton wool and fastened to the pillow; his face was just the size of his father’s watch face. He developed slowly, and was so long in beginning to speak that for some time fears were entertained that he was going tobe dumb. He soon dispelled these, when at the age of three he began to speak and was the veriest chatterbox. His love for Nature in all her forms, which was to be such a very marked characteristic afterwards, showed itself very early, and I have been told by a visitor to the Manse of her surprise when the tiny toddler of three appeared with his pinafore full of crawly, creepy things, with his eyes sparkling, and saying, ‘‘ Pretty, Pretty.” He always said he inherited this love of Nature from his mother, between whom and himself there was a very great bond of sym- pathy and love. The country open-air life and perfect freedom no doubt fostered in him the love of plant and animal life, while the lack of companion- ship—his brothers and sister being considerably older than himself —left him free to indulge in long, solitary rambles, which often kept him out on the hillside or on the moors and lochs of Orkney for the whole of the long summer day. His education was undertaken by his father, who began to teach him the Rudiments of the Latin Grammar, when he was six, ~ B 2 J Viel RAIS but, as he used to say himself, he learned the rules of the Grammar for three years before it ever dawned upon him that Latin had once been a spoken language! Naturally such a training was not calculated to inspire a love of the Classics, and he might have been excused had he taken a jaundiced view of their place in the education of the youth of his day. He was saved from this by his own essential fairness, and also by the strong feeling he had that it would be the worst thing possible for his own beloved Natural Science, should it ever take the same unfair position in the school curriculum. He had a very great aptitude for languages, and after he had passed through the University he taught himself to read all the modern European languages, in which books were published, which could be useful to him in the study of plants and their diseases. The first five years of his life were spent in the Manse at Birsay, on the picturesque bay of that name where the great Atlantic rollers crash upon the stony beach, which is slightly sheltered by the ‘‘ Brough ”—the high headland, which is entirely cut off from the mainland at high tide, and where the sheep in a gale take shelter at the very edge of the cliff! Owing to the impossibility of educating the older members of the family in Orkney, they had all to be sent to Aberdeen, and James for the first eleven years of his life was practically an only child. Great economy had to be practised in order to keep the four older children at the University and at school, and James proved himself a most valuable help to his mother, who, besides superintending the ordinary work of a country manse, was looked upon by the parishioners as something of a doctor and whose advice was eagerly sought for. Many household avocations which have long fallen into disuse were practised in the manse such as grinding coffee and rice, peeling rushes for wicks for the small lamps, etc., and in all these ways James proved himself very useful—lessons which he never forgot and which made him very much more independent in the house than are most men. Those happy days had to come to an end, however, with the necessity of a more regular and systematic education. In the later years of his life he became very much interested in genealogy, that study which seems to have such a strong fascina- tion—especially for Scotsmen. He left valuable and careful collections upon the genealogy of the Trail Family which are now in the University Library. His notes say :— Turis attempt to state what could be discovered regarding my an- cestry is the result of various influences, of which I can trace the following :— My mother had an unusual knowledge of traditional lore con- nected with families of South Kincardineshire and Forfarshire, especially about the Ogilvy kinship, to which her mother belonged. BIOGRAPHIC SKETCH 3 Being the youngest child, and at times the only one at home, I was much with my mother, and heard from her much of what she knew of such lore, as well as of the traditions of Old Aberdeen and of its University. The Ogilvies were keen Jacobites, and as a child I felt the hold of the tradition and the strong dislike of the Argyll Campbells for the harm done by them to Airlie and other Ogilvy lands during the Civil Wars. My mother’s niece, Mrs. Valentine, was only about four years younger than my mother, and they had grown up together like sisters. Mrs. Valentine was a very keen genealogist, and, as a child, I have wondered at her memory ; but, to my regret afterwards, I remember only a very little of her conversations, and I am not aware that she ever wrote down what she could tell sofully. What I heard from my mother I remember very imperfectly ; but it has helped me at times to in- formation that I could not have obtained without this help; and a few notes in MS. by her have aiso aided me. My father had accumulated a good deal of material relating to the name Trail or Traill, the substance of which will be found below. It bears largely on the family that possessed Blebo in Fifeshire, to which he traced his ancestry for the reasons stated below. ‘The notes left by him are chiefly contained in a MS. book now [1919] in possession of my brother, John A. Trail, W.S. A good deal of what he records was derived from correspondence and the loan to him of MS. records by descendants of the Blebo family, especially through William Traill, M.D. (of North Ronaldshay and Woodwick in Orkney), and various descendants of the Rev. Robert Trail, a prominent Covenanter and minister for a time of Greyfriars parish in Hdinburgh. His notes were not brought by him into definite form, and further inquiry was desirable on several points. Probably he had intended to try to make such inquiry but had omitted to do so, or had been deterred by the trouble that it would have cost him. The duties that had to be attended to, and the time required to gain the necessary knowledge of Natural Science, prevented my spending labour in trying to add to what I had been told of their ancestry by my parents, and caused me to forget a good deal of what I had heard as a child, and have since felt cause to regret the loss of. In later years the progress of the study of heredity, and its importance in Natural Science, has led to the recognition of the probable worth of knowing as fully and truly as possible the ancestry of oneself, and therefore of one’s children ; but for such 4 . J. W. H. TRAIL knowledge to be of value the inquiry must extend not to those bearing the one surname only, but to all ancestors that can be traced with sufficient confidence, female as well as male. I had been content to let what I knew remain at what I had found in the notes referred to, supposing it to be very unlikely that I could add materially to what they contained, or that it would be possible to trace ancestry among the classes to which I had to look, where few records had been kept, if any, and who had not the links that were likely to keep them permanently in certain homes. My interest in questions of heredity had been growing from the side of the scientific problems, and I had followed Galton’s applica- tions of it to questions of human inheritance, but with the recogni- tion of the very complex nature of inheritance, and of the very great limitations in its practical application even where high social rank has secured full information as to kinship, and at least some information from which to infer the characters of the persons in the lines of ancestry. What led to my undertaking the inquiry into my own ancestry was a request from my daughter Helen before her marriage that I would give her information of what she had been told was recorded by my parents. In trying to put this into shape I realised how little it really came to, confined to a few names beyond which all was unknown, while among my father’s notes the evidence on various matters appeared to be defective or misleading. Dis- satisfied with this information, I sought to add to it, and to clear away uncertainties as far as could be done, though without much hope of being able to add much to what they had left in manuscript. Had I realised the time and labour it would require, I do not think I would have begun the search; but, once entered on, its interést grew as step after step was gained, and the field widened. What the manuscripts contained afforded the clues to link on to other sources of information in genealogical works, in parochial registers in the Register House in Kdinburgh, in such books as Jervise’s “ Land of the Lindsays,” and now and again in passing allusions in books, etc., which had not seemed likely to be helpful. Frequently references in the books consulted opened new sources of information ; and each generation introduced new matter for in- vestigation when the names and ancestry of the mothers could be ascertained. At a distance from a library fairly rich in books on family history such an inquiry would have been doomed to failure, BIOGRAPHIC SKETCH 5 but the library of the University of Aberdeen yielded many aids after the earlier difficulties had been overcome. The labour of the investigation was largely repaid by the many sidelights thrown on the former history of Scotland. The social conditions, the relations between the Church (R.C.) and the people, the family histories and feuds, the personalities of the actors that shaped that history are all seen from new standpoints, and gain much in being so seen as regards their interest. I have found my outlook on these and other matters of national importance widened and changed, and my interest in them much increased as one result. The search for information has also possessed the attraction of a scientific Inquiry, apart from any personal interest, the problem in this case being to ascertain how far it seemed practicable to work ° out the direct ancestry of a family of the professional middle class where certain lines were already known for two or three genera- tions back. In such an inquiry the aim should be to learn the truth, not to try to drag into the ancestry claimed any names un- justified by evidence. As regards the possibility of using the as- certained heredity to explain the personal characteristics of living persons, there seems little likelihood of practical results of value, for the records of any one ancestor are rarely such as to afford the basis of forming a trustworthy estimate ; and they never are so in respect of a half of the ancestors even of monarchs. The ancestry that could be relied on as unquestionably correct in my father's memoranda of his own family is as follows :— Alexander Trail 7 Ann Reid ° Samuel Ritchie = Hlizabeth Sherifis ie | John Trail = Ann Ritchie | | 7” | | Samuel Elizabeth Isabella John Robert Ann James = Helen Scott | Hercules Isabella John Samuel Thomas James William Scott Anne Margaret Arbuthnot d. unm. Helenus = Mary Jane = Andrew = Williamina = Katherine Steeds. Jamieson. Anderson. Hliz. Milligan. He has put on record his conclusion that the above Alexander was a son of John Trail, whose descent he traces thus :— 6 J. W. H. TRAIL John Trale = Barbara Logon of Blebo in Fife 1517 Alexander = . . . Kininmonth of Blebo | | | John Andrew = Helen Myrton of Blebo Colonel in Dutch Service against Spain ; bought Belay in Denino | James = Mathilda Melville Colonel, of Kilcleary Mary Hamilton = James Robert = Jean Annand Colonel under min. Elie, Greyfriars, Cromwell Edinburgh, 1649-78 al | Helenor = William Robert min. Borthwick, min. London, 1690-1714 1669-1716 | Christian = James William Robert Allardice min. _ min. min. Montrose, Benholme, Panbride, 1709-23 1710-43 1717-62 | John William Robert Robert min. min. min. Logie Pert, Kettins, Rescobie, St. Monans, Banfi, Panbride, 1740-56 1746-61 1749-98 | | Alexander William James David = Ann Reid. prof. min. min. Mar. Coll., St. Cyrus, Panbride, 1766-79. 1782-1816. 1798-1850. Among my father’s MSS. are the following notes :— James Trail of Montrose married Miss Allardice, daughter of Provost Allardice of Aberdeen, by whom he had one son and two daughters. He died 26th March, 1723. 1. John, born 1st March, 1714, appears, from letters written in the years 1735-39 to his cousin the Rev. William Trail, of St. Monans, to have possessed considerable abilities. At the age of 18 or 19 he went to England and was undermaster in a school fora time. In 1740 he went with —— Ramsay of Straloch to Straloch in Aberdeenshire, of a farm on which he was offered a lease to continue ‘as long as grass grew or water ran.” But he appears to have been dissatisfied with the pro- spect of being a farmer, and, like many others in his day, refused the BIOGRAPHIC SKETCH 7 offer greatly to the disappointment of his descendants. He appears to have died young. He married , and left two sons. (1) Alexander married Anne Reid, by whom he had two sons, John and James (who went to India in the army, and died young and unmarried), and several daughters, who died unmarried. (2) Robert I recollect seeing once in Aberdeen in 1820 or 1821, then an old man. He was married, but had no children. I saw his wife, a curious-looking active bustling body, about 80 years of age, older than her husband. 2. Agnes, born in 1717, married to Mr. Alexander Thomson, bookseller in Aberdeen, who died there about 1780 and left two sons and four daughters, of whom two were alive in 1805, and only one in 1826 (Chalmers MS., pp. 9, 14). 3. Susan or Susanna, married to Mr. James Chalmers, printer, of Aberdeen, by whom were several children. These accounts of John and Alexander Trail, and that John was the son of James, minister of Montrose, I often heard from my father, when my mother and he were expressing the earnest wish that I would study for the Church and get back into the old clerical line. My father had a number of papers connected with the account he gave me of his family, which I saw and read at various times when I was a boy; but the contents of which I do not now recollect. I left home at 15 years of age and could revisit it only fora day or two once a year. I do not know what became of these papers, or what became of any of his papers after his death. I could not be present at the time of either his death or funeral. My parents, John Trail and Ann Ritchie married and had four sons, one of whom died in infancy, and three daughters. 1. Samuel, born 31st May, 1806. Went to King’s College in Session 1821-22, gained prizes in the junior classes, and in Session 1824-25 gained the Hutton prize by competition and took the degree of M.A. Assistant and successor minister of Arbuthnott in Kincardineshire, in 1844 became minister of Harray and Birsay in Orkney, and in 1867 Professor of Systematic Theology in the University of Aberdeen. In 1841 he married Helen, youngest daughter of the Rev. James Scott, minister of Benholm, 2. Elizabeth, died unmarried. . Isabella, died unmarried. 4, John Robert, born 30th September, 1816, M.A., 1835, M.D. (Hdin.), 1839, long settled at Tombeg, Monymusk, as a medical practitioner, and 1870-73 an examiner in medicine in the University of Aberdeen. He was married to daughter of Mitchell, farmer, on Auchnagathle, in Keig, Aberdeenshire. He died 12th February, 1875, and was buried in the grave of his wife who had predeceased him by a number of years. They had two sons, George Shewan and John, and one daughter Marianne, who died unmarried. 5. Anne. 6. James, born 8th March, 1820, at King’s College 1835-37, succeeded his father as tenant on the farm of Gilmorton in Udny, afterwards took a farm in Slains, but was not a successful farmer. He died unmarried. (vu) 8 J. W. H. TRAIL My mother, Ann Ritchie, wasa woman of great ability and determination. When I was between 6 and 7 years old, and had been set to learn the Latin Rudiments, she applied herself to the study of Latin for the purpose of assisting me in the preparation of my lessons. I find no reference of any kind in my father’s MS. or letters in- dicating his estimate of his father’s ability or character or that his guidance had influenced him, apart from the statement quoted above regarding descent from “ John Trail, son of James Trail, minister of Montrose,’ and the desire expressed that he should re- turn to the clerical profession. To this traditional descent I shall return. What I know about my father’s parents was chiefly de- rived from an occasional remark of Professor Francis Ogston (who had known the household and was a cousin on the Ritchie side) and of other acquaintances. From what I learned in this way, and can infer, John Trail was a native of Newmachar. The names of several sons and daughters of “ Alexander Trail and Ann Reid, his wife,” in ‘“‘ Mains of Strathloch”’ about 1758-61, in ‘ Upper- hill of Strathloch”’ in 1766, and in ‘ Pool of Strathloch”’ after 1772, are recorded in the Birth Register of Newmachar, but Jokn’s name did not seem included. The parish registers, however, were often inaccurate. I have an impression that I was told that he was younger than his wife, Ann Ritchie, who was born 27th April, 1782, her father, Samuel Ritchie, living then at Green of Udny. As he was described for some years before his death, as ‘in Gilmorton” he appears to have been the tenant of that farm, which was the home of his daughter Ann after her marriage. John Trail seems to have settled down to the charge of Gilmorton, probably when Samuel Ritchie required help in the work. Samuel Ritchie died in 1833, aged 77. The marriage of his daughter Ann to John Trail probably took place in 1805, as their eldest child was born 31st May, 1806, but the only marriages re- corded in the Udny register between 1790 and 1816 are clandestine ones. Evidently marriages celebrated publicly were not thought to require a record. The little I have been able to learn of conditions at Gilmorton suggests that John Trail, like most farmers in the district, was able to make a living, with a struggle at times no doubt, and that his wife was the guiding spirit of the two. They certainly shared the desire so common in the North of Scotland to obtain for their sons the best education within reach, encouraged, no doubt, by the exceptionally good school carried on at Udny by James Bisset, BIOGRAPHIC SKETCH 9 afterwards the well-known minister of Bourtie. Professor Ogston told me that in the household the mother deferred far more to the eldest son’s opinion than to his father’s, as explaining a trait in my father’s character of inclination to regard the views of others as to be set aside by his assertion, even when he knew little of the sub- ject under discussion. My father’s statement that he “left home at 15 years of age, and could revisit it only for a day or two once a year” is certainly inaccurate, as during the Arts course at least he spent the summers at home on the farm. Moreover, a remark he made to me about his brother James (who, without positive habits to cause failure, was always in difficulties through want of effort to overcome them), ‘showed that he must have lived at home after 1822, that is after he reached the age of 16. The remark was that James (born 8th March, 1820) as a child was allowed very. much his own way by his mother, and that when he did not care to do anything it was not required of him. School or other tasks whose value she recognised, were escaped by James on the plea of headache, with the result that he had to fall back on farming, in which also he did not succeed. I remember him as a man under 90, but looking years older, and with a grievance against the world in general. All three sons were sent to King’s College, the University of Old Aberdeen, and their names appear in the Album: Samuel, 1821-25, Hutton Prizeman and A.M. in 1825; Joannes Robertus, 1831-35, A.M. in 1835; and Jacobus, two years in the class 1835- 39, but finding the work too hard to go on with it after the second year, he seems to have returned to farmwork. To educate the sons must have required self-denial in the parents, and was probably the ambition of their mother rather than of theirfather. Ihave never heard that the daughters were educated beyond the standard that could be reached in or near Udny. On a farm of the size of Gilmorton the farmer and his family must help in the work ; and there is seldom much ready money, though there is not actual poverty. Rigid economy must often have been required, and ready money must often have been hard to find, causing it to be more convenient to let the accounts be carried on with occasional payments to account. This habit my father retained throughout his life (even when he could have easily settled ac- counts), much to my mother’s distress, and though he had by it to pay more than by short accounts or by ready money payments, and 10 J: We, EOE AGG was occasionally involved in a good deal of difficulty through ac- counts that he allowed to run on in this way. After his death many accounts were rendered to his executors, some of which it was im- possible to check. After graduating M.A. in 1825 he entered on the study of Theology under Professor Duncan Mearns in Systematic Theology. With the aid of Hercules Scott, Professor of Moral Philosophy in King’s College, he obtained the position of resident tutor to the sons of Viscount Arbuthnott, a post which he held for several years, until in 1841 he received from Lord Arbuthnott a presentation to be assistant and successor to the then minister of Arbuthnott, Rev. James Milne, become unfit for duty through old age. About 1832 he became engaged to my mother, whom he had first met at the house of her brother, Professor Scott. After the death of her father, Rev. James Scott, minister of Benholm, she resided with her widowed mother in Bervie. My parents were married on 1841, after the death of Mrs. Scott, while my father was still assistant and successor in Arbuthnott. The income from a sum of about £3000 belonging to my mother (left to her as one of the family by a maternal uncle) probably enabled them to do so. My father entered keenly into the ecclesiastical dispute, on the side of supporting the law of the country against non-intrusionists, and he adhered to the Church established by law. A cousin of my mother’s, Mrs. Hutton (née Margaret Scott), was married to Mr. Thomas Hutton, Factor in Orkney for the estates of the Harl of Zetland, who held the presentations to several parishes. Mrs. Hutton, though only a third cousin, and a good many years older than my mother, was an intimate friend. Hence she took the opportunity to obtain for my father a presenta- tion to the united parishes of Harray and Birsay in the Mainland of Orkney, the former minister of which had been one of those who joined the Free Church in 1843. My father resigned his post of assistant and successor in Arbuthnott; and from 1844 until 1868 our family-home was in Orkney—until 1856 in the old manse of Birsay, where my sister and two of my brothers and I were born. As the manse was in a bad state through age, and as. the heritors were not willing either to repair it thoroughly or to build a new manse, my father claimed the right to have a manse erected on the glebe in Harray, where there had not previously been one. To prepare a site two grave mounds had to be removed ; BIOGRAPHIC SKETCH 11 and as these were regarded in Harray as dwellings of fairies, to interfere with which would anger the fairies and probably be punished by them, there was great unwillingness to begin work on the mounds. One day some time after the site should have been cleared my father found them still untouched ; but on his agreeing to stay with the men (presumably to take all risk of offending the fairies and of punishment) while at work on the mounds, they were cleared away ina few hours. It was supposed that the dispossessed fairies might assert their right to lodging in the new building ; and reports of persons that, passing the unfinished manse at night after all the workmen were away, they heard carpenters’ tools employed in one of the rooms was evidence that the fairies accepted the new conditions in a friendly spirit. The room in question was my bedroom when a child of 7 or 8, and I more than half believed in the fairies and hoped I might see them some night. The belief was not a cause of dread. I have reason to believe that some people in Harray thought we had made friends with and seen the fairies, but would not risk offending them by admitting the supposed intercourse. f When I first recall the home-life clearly, my father was in the habit of not rising until 11 or 12 o'clock, his breakfast being brought to him in bed, as he used to read for an hour or two there. He disliked personal exertion, and I do not think he ever took a walk of ten miles in any day, rarely even of two or three. The glebe at Harray extended to over 50 acres; and it gave him a great source of occupation, as he obtained a loan from public funds to encourage agriculture, and had the ground drained, fields enclosed and soon. It was a favourite pastime to watch the men at work for an hour or two at a time. He bought, with the help of my mother’s money, some 500 or 600 acres on the borders of Birsay and Harray, including two or three small farms, of which my brother John retained Howan, when the rest had to be disposed of by the trustees under my father’s will. The desire to be a laird was strong in him; and he often went to visit the farms, which lay four or five miles from Harray, always using a gig to carry him there and back, and oc- casionally combining it with parochial visits. The land was not a profitable investment; and my mother had often difficulty in making ends meet, while ld. weekly was the amount I (and I suppose the others) nominally received as pocket money, but it was usually in arrears. We supplemented it by earnings of various 12 J. W. H. TRAIL kinds, such as for work in garden or harvest field (at 1d. per hour) catching fish (1d. per lb. for trout), shooting for the table (with a tariff for the various birds, hares, etc.), catching vermin (1d. for a rat’s tail, or for those of three mice or voles). Looking back it seems to me that the gain in learning that we could win what we needed for ourselves, and the self-denial (in luxuries of the palate or in toys), to enable one to obtain the more durable pleasures (in my case books about animals, and the means for keeping pets and rearing insects, etc.) was of far greater value, and brought with it greater appreciation of the objects sought and enjoyment in their attainment than is ever known by those who are accustomed to many presents and to allowances that cost no personal effort, and allow of spending on personal luxuries before one has learned how to earn them. Exertion of any kind was distasteful to my father, and he seldom even attempted to do any work about the house or small repairs to house or clothes, preferring to have all makings or mendings done for him as a matter of course, for which no thanks weredue. He was thus very dependent on those around him, especi- ally on my mother; but was, naturally, quite unaware of the fact. In the evening he usually slept after dinner on a sofa in the dining- room until about 8—tea-time—and then read for two or three hours: He usually went to bed about 11 p.m. Under a sufficient stimulus he could and did work hard and steadily, and showed marked ability in Classics, Mathematics, and other studies in repute. Thus, in the Arts Curriculum he gained the highest place in his class as shown by the award of the Hutton Prize, then given for general success all round. In the ecclesias- tical courts, from Kirk Session to General Assembly he took great interest, and his repute in that field is indicated by his appoint- ment as Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland in May, 1874. I was on duty in the valley of the Amazon River in South America during his year of office, so have to depend on the reports of how he discharged the duties which I was informed he did well and fittingly. My brothers were hardly at home for a number of years, edu- cation at school and University causing us all to leave our home in Orkney except during vacations in summer, for vacations in winter and spring were too brief to allow of return home. Hercules left home to attend school about 1858, and entered King’s College as a bajan in 1859. The following summer he BIOGRAPHIC SKETCH 13 spent chiefly in Orkney ; and, disliking the Arts Course, he entered on the study of Medicine in Aberdeen. During two or three of the summers he went on whalers, as was then frequently done by students of his type, as ‘surgeon’ for the cruise. John was sent to the Grammar School in Aberdeen in 1860 there having been students (John Watt and Robert Grant) as tutors during two summers in Orkney. He took a good place in Classics at school, gaining prizes; and, gaining a bursary in the Competition in 1861, he began the Arts Course in the University of Aberdeen in 1861. He took high places in Latin, Greek, and Natural History, and was in most Merit lists; and at the close of Session 1865-66 he graduated A.M. with ‘“‘ Honours” in Natural Science and ‘‘Second Class Honours” in Classics. He was the one of the family who in some measure, as a schoolboy and student, satisfied our father’s estimate of ability and desire to acquire useful knowledge. Samuel had no inclination for University studies, and showed no aptitude for Classics or other preparatory work. He was fond of gymnastics and rowing. He was sent for a year or two to school in Aberdeen, and in 1863 to the Grammar School in Kirk- wall, then under a good teacher, Mr. Watson, in order to prepare for a commercial post. As my sister was also away at boarding schools I was the only one of the family at home fora great part of each year during several years before 1862. In October, 1862, I was sent to a boarding school carried on by Dr. George Tulloch in Bellevue House in the Hardgate, Aberdeen ; the school, which was attended also by a number of sons of residents in Aberdeen, being in Academy Street, between Crown Street and Dee Street. The “ Academy” is now [1919] used as the “‘ Friends Society Meeting House,” and the boarding house has changed its name also and is now the ‘“‘ House of Bethany.” We were all home during July, 1863. Harly in August Sam became unwell, and soon it was seen that he was suffering from typhoid fever, contracted in Kirkwall apparently. This prevented all returns to University and to school. The fear of infection rendered it impossible to get proper help in nursing, the more re- quired as Hercules and John and Bella all were attacked, as was also one of the majid-servants. My father could give no help in such times; and the burden fell on my mother, whose health was not good, especially after a continued and serious illness eleven or 14 J. W. H. TRAIL twelve years. before. As always, she met the strain bravely and well. Iescaped the fever, and gave such help in nursing the in- valids as could be trusted to a boy of 12. Their recovery was slow, especially with my sister (who had previously suffered from rheumatic fever), and with Sam; and in the next spring medical advice urged that they at least should spend six weeks at Wiesbaden. As my mother was very much in need of a change, and as my father also thought he would be the better of one, it was resolved that the whole family should go ex- cept Hercules, who had arranged to go another cruise in a whaler, and was off early in April. We accordingly proceeded to Wies- baden by Leith, Rotterdam, and steamer up the Rhine. My mother’s niece Mrs. Valentine, who was staying in Wiesbaden with her daughter and a friend, had secured rooms for us and had arranged for our meals being sent from a restaurant, so all was ready on our arrival. The visit to a new country, with its new surroundings, was full of interest to all of us, and its object was realised in the improve- ment of the invalids’ health in a very marked degree. Fortunately for me, our landlady’s son Carl, who was a little older than I, was keenly interested in outdoor life, and took me for rambles to his favourite haunts, which abounded in a wealth of insects, lizards, and other creatures very surprising to me in comparison with what I knew at home. He knew little English and I knew no German; but we soon learned enough from each other to talk after a fashion, and my ‘‘sehr sch6n” was very genuine and seemed to win his goodwill. Among my prizes were two bats, caught with insect nets while they were hawking for insects over apond. These I kept as pets for some time, and found they be- came quite tame and accepted insects readily as food. One of them produced a young one—a little hairless creature—which clung to her protected by one of her wings. Unfortunately the mother was very restless, shuffling about over tables and other furniture, and the baby died seemingly exhausted by the want of rest. The bats were restored to freedom before we left Germany. In August, 1864, I was sent to attend the Grammar School in Old Aberdeen, under Cosmo Grant (brother of one of the student tutors, Robert Grant, who had taught my brothers in Orkney), who had come recently to the charge of the school. I liked him per- sonally, and often have been surprised at his success as rector BIOGRAPHIC SKETCH 15 under the miserably insufficient accommodation. All the classes were taught in two small rooms by himself and a student-assistant. We varied from mere children to men of 25 years old or more— looking forward mostly to entering the Arts Course at the Uni- versity if only a bursary could be gained. Under its new head, the Old Aberdeen Grammar School more than held its own in the one recognised test of success in Aberdeen—the Bursary Competi- tion. The translation of a passage from English into Latin prose was the supreme test of efficiency, and I never acquired the power to do so with skill, to avoid the pitfalls strewn in the way. Once my version was the best, I think it reached the coveted sine errore ; but my single success was at least as great a surprise to myself as to my class-fellows. I could not remember the little quirks or “niceties” of the language in which we were trained in versions - set from former competitions, and I loathed the arbitrariness of the methods of study in vogue for classical languages. I spent two years at the school, returning to Orkney for a six-weeks’ holi- day in the summers of 1865 and 1866. During the autumn of 1864 I lodged with another boy, sharing the rooms in the same house as Mr. Grant in Old Aberdeen (now 52 High Street); and my brother Sam and I shared the same rooms next summer. In the winters 1864-65 and 1865-66 our mother came to stay with us in Aberdeen, rooms being taken for her and all her four sons during the first winter in a house in Schoolhill which was cleared away in the opening up of Harriet Street, and in the second winter in Loch Street, in what was at one time the residence of Mr. Ogston (after- wards at Ardo), which house was pulled down and replaced by the offices of the soap works. During these two winters Hercules was a student of Medicine, John a student of Arts, Sam a clerk in the North of Scotland Bank,andIatschool. In the summers Hercules went on cruises or as unqualified assistant to a medical man, and John was at home in Orkney, while Sam and I remained in Aber- deen except during our holidays. As it was necessary to exercise strict economy the lodgings were limited to the general sitting-room, a small room where work could be done in quiet if visitors were in, and bedrooms, one large in which the brothers slept, and one for our mother. The manse of Harray was looked after during our mother’s absence by a niece of hers, and by my sister in the second winter ; but my mother must have been greatly missed at home, as our father was very dependent on her for the personal comforts he was 16 J. W. H. TRAIL accustomed to, and also for her to refer to in all small worries, and to read part of his sermons to for her criticism. Our mother returned to Orkney in April, 1866, when John graduated M.A. with Honours as already stated. In the course of the summer he began his apprenticeship in Edinburgh for the profession of W.S. Hercules passed L.R.C.S. Edinburgh, in 1867. Sam was boarded in Aberdeen and I returned to lodgings in 56 High Street, sharing rooms with a school-fellow James Cantlie (knighted in 1918, for services to V.A.D., and Red Cross work), who had love for natural history, but as little for the iClassics as I had. In the Competition in October, 1866 the Old Aberdeen Grammar School took a very high place (1st, 4th, etc.), but Cantlie and I were out of the list. I assumed that my version had failed . to reach the standard, but fifty years afterwards I found, on chanc- ing to look into the University MS. record of the Competition in 1866 the words ‘‘ no paper” against my name, 7.e. my version had been lost in some way. My father was most unwilling to allow me to go to the University without a bursary, and put down my failure to gain one to laziness and carelessness. I hited the work at school, and asked to go to trade or mechanical work if the Uni- versity was forbidden to me. At last, to my joy, I was allowed to. try a session at the University, but told that my remaining there depended on my gaining a bursary next autumn, so as to enter the semi class with it. A bedroom and parlour in 10 College Bounds (the house at the left hand on turning into Orchard Lane) were taken for James Mackintosh (son of the minister of Deskford) and me; and there the two of us lived and worked during the winter, without super- vision. Our weekly bill for board and lodging did not exceed 10s. 6d. each, and was usually less; and I have no recollection of our feeling the need of a larger sum. Chickenpox kept me from classes four days, the only break due to my health in my attendance as a student in Arts and in Medicine. Mackintosh and I passed in all our classes, and to myself it meant as hard work as ever a winter cost me, as its chief subjects were Latin and Greek, with English three times a week. The close of the session sent me back to the hated versions, in view of the Competition in autumn. Dr. Robert Macpherson, Professor of Systematic Theology, died in spring, 1867, having held the chair since 1852, when my father had been a competitor for it, and had received the degree a 4 < (any eal ez 7 io | & q ~ qq a H =| 4 _ = mM ica (SI a : (@D):. Me. Cobban, in October, 1909; showed me a dried specimen from Dyce, where it was a common weed in his garden. Neslea paniculata, Desv. Casual. Not uncommon in recent years on refuse, on Old Aberdeen Links, ete.; probably brought with seeds of cereals from the Mediterranean area. Adt. Ps. Found by me in 1883 by roadside at north end of the New Bridge of Don, the first occurrence near Aberdeen, and in October, 1915, on waste ground near Bucksburn Station. Rapistrum rugosum, All. Casual. Frequent on town-refuse, since 1893, when I first found it, on the old bed of the Dee. I have seen it less often as a weed by roadsides and in crops; but it is still only a casual. Its seeds are probably brought from central or eastern Europe with those of cereals, FR. glabrum, Host. Casual. Native of Austria. A fruiting plant was found by me on town-refuse by road to Links from School Road. [R. perenne, Bergeret.] Casual. Native of S.E. and central Europe. A plant appeared in 1908 near Dyce Station, and in 1910 fruited, allowing its identification to be made sure. 120 J. W. H. TRAIL Bunias orientalis, L. Native of S.H. Europe, dispersed by fruits among the seeds of cereals. In 1915 I found this in a grass field west of Tillydrone, and by the road from School Road to Old Aberdeen Links. The plant was first seen by me locally near Dyce Station where two examples have continued to grow and to flower every year, though cut down before ripening seeds. In September, 1908, I saw a large clump seeding freely on waste ground a little way north of Kintore Station, where rubbish is thrown out. Crambe maritima, L. Sea-kale. Native on the south and west coasts of Britain ; and cultivated in gardens in other parts of the country. “Beach at Aberdeen”’ (Laing hb., about 1837). In the absence of any other record from the coasts of this part. of Scotland, this single example must be regarded as a casual, pos- sibly fram some garden. Cakile maritima, 2. Sea-rocket. Native on the loose sands along the sea-front of the dunes. “In arena mobili maritima” (Skene, as Bunias Cakile). “On the sea-shore near the mouth of the Don” (Harvey). ‘On the coast at Donmouth, and along to Footdee” (Cow). It is still to be found there; but has become a good deal less common than it was forty years ago. Perhaps one reason for this is the lessening of the surface suitable to its needs, owing to the much greater abundance of the Lyme-grass (Elymus) along the sea- front in recent years. Adt. Ps. Ng?::::: 0. More frequent to the north. Raphanus Raphanstrum, L. Wild Radish, locally called Runch. Native of southern Europe, and very widely dispersed as a weed of cultivated soil. An only too plentiful colonist in Scot- land, though more local than the Charlock, which it sometimes. rivals as a pernicious weed. “Passim arvis, pestis” (Skene). Cow records it from several localities in Aberdeen, some of which are now covered with streets. It is peculiarly frequent in some of the fields near King Street, to the north of School Road. In some it grows almost unmixed with Charlock, in others they are more or less mixed, and in others ' the Charlock prevails almost to the exclusion of the Runch, the difference in colour of the flowers making the relative proportions of the two in the fields very evident even from a distance. The FLORA OF ABERDEEN 121 variety with almost white flowers appears occasionally in fields and on waste ground, Adt. Ps. In all; rather local, but often far too abundant. R. sativus, L. Garden or Cultivated Radish. Known only as a cultivated plant ; perhaps originally from Asia; widely dispersed by cultivation. An occasional casual on town-refuse and on waste ground in and around Aberdeen. RESEDACE, Reseda alba, L. Native in central and southern Europe; but a very rare casual on town-refuse near Aberdeen, perhaps brought with the seeds of cereals. Once or twice found by me on Old Aberdeen Links, and on refuse in sandpits east of King Street near Old Aberdeen. R. lutea, L. Wild Mignonette. Casual about Aberdeen, almost always on rubbish; native of Continental Europe, but very doubtfully so in the British Islands. “Inches” (Knight). ‘On the Inch opposite the Dockyards, rare, 1833” (Dickie hb.). ‘‘ Near King Street, Dr. Macgillivray”’ (P. M.). Thave found it several times on the old bed of the Dee in 1890, on Old Aberdeen Links in various years since 1896, in one or two sandpits near King Street now filled up. Adt. Ps. ::: PNhD:. Near Dyce Railway Station. R. Luteola, L. Dyer’s Weed. Not native near Aberdeen ; probably a survival, as little more than a casual, from the time when it was cultivated as a useful plant. Accepted as native in southern Scotland. ‘Ad vias. On the brae from the hangman’s house to Footdee Church” (Skene). ‘In the side of a field south from Donmouth, and north from Brick-kilns, rare’? (Cow). ‘‘ Road leading from King Street Road to the Brick-kilns, August, 1838, Dr. A. Fleming ” (Dickie hb.). I have observed it occasionally, but rarely, in fields west of Old Aberdeen. It is extremely uncertain in its appearances here ; and rarely continues more than a year or two in any locality. It appears also on town-refuse at times. Adt. Ps.::: P Nh DO. More frequent in the northern parishes. I found it in abundance on waste ground near Bankhead K 122 J. W. H. TRATL Station in Nh; but it is most uncertain in its appearances, and only a casual. Ff. odorata, L. Common Mignonette. This favourite garden flower occasionally occurs as a casual on refuse, on the Links, in sandpits, and elsewhere, no doubt derived from gardens or shop-sweepings. CISTACEAE. [Helianthemum Chameecistus, Mill. Common Rock-rose.] Native. I have no record of its having been found within Aberdeen ; but it must almost certainly have been so before its natural habitats were altered by man. The nearest existing habitat is on the edge of a field by the Don, a little way east of the New Bridge. Adt. Ps. In all; usually very local, but plentiful on many parts of the dry braes along the sea-coast. VIOLACEA. Viola palustris, Z. Marsh Violet. Native in wet places. ‘Moss of Ferryhill” (Knight, and “1834” in Dickie hb.). “In Pitmuxton Marsh ” (Cow). I have seen it on Stocket Moor; but the cultivation of the moor, about 1880, extirpated it there. A few plants may still be found within Aberdeen on the shingle and wet slopes along the Dee, near Ruthrieston ; but it is probably extinct almost everywhere else in the parish, though it must have been common before drain- age of the moors and swamps. Adt. Ps. In all; common in suitable habitats. V. odorata, L. Sweet Violet. Casual; usually asa relict from cultivation, or outcast or straggler from a garden, and rarely remaining for more than a year or two. “ Den of Rubislaw ”’ (Cow). I have occasionally found it on ground lapsed from cultivation, on rubbish, and by roads, in various places about Aberdeen, e.g. in Rubislaw and near Old Aberdeen. Adt. Ps. ‘Cove’ (Beattie). V. canina, Dog Violet. In the wide meaning of these names, as used in all published records of the local flora, the “ Dog Violets” are stated to be “common” or “very common”; and, in suitable habitats, they FLORA OF ABERDEEN 123 still are frequent locally ; but the suitable habitats have been very much circumscribed by cultivation of the soil and by extension of streets. Of the forms included under the names, now generally treated as species, the following have been observed in Aberdeen :— V. sylvestris, Kit. (V. Reichenbachiana, Jord.) V. Riviniana, Reichend. and V. canina, L., s. str. (V. ericetorum, Schrad.). The first two include the plants with lilac and purplish-blue flowers, so frequent by roads, in dry natural pastures and in woods, even close to the city, their flowers being very noticeable during spring and early summer. After the middle of June the flowers are not less numerous than before, but they are cleistogamous, remaining like unopened buds and very easily overlooked. The two ‘‘species” are difficult to distinguish from one another. VJ. Rivimana appears to be much the more common near Aberdeen. Adt. Ps. More general than in Aberdeen, showing the same relative frequency. V. canina, s. str., is the more frequent by the Dee, where it abounds on the shingles, and also on the dunes along the coast ; but it is not common inland. Its flowers are a purer blue in colour, and its leaves are narrower than those of the other two. Like them, its flowers are almost all cleistogamous after June. It is probably the plant indicated by the record in the Botanist’s Guide of “ V. pumila, Vill. Links of Aberdeen.” Adt. Ps. Ng BM P:: 0. Local, but frequent by the Dee, and on dunes. V. tricolor, 2. Wild Pansy or Heartsease. Native, but often more abundant in cultivated ground than in its natural habitats. Common in pastures, on waste ground, and by roads and hedges, varying much in form of leaves, and in size and colour of flowers. Usually annual, sometimes biennial. This is mentioned in all local records. Adt. Ps. In all; common, in many places very abundant. V. arvensis, Murray. Field Pansy. Plentiful as a weed in cultivated ground and on bare waste ground; but also growing, though less plentifully, on dry banks, and among thin herbage, its distribution thus indicating that it may be native, though finding the conditions of cultivated soil favourable to its increase and dis- persal. 124 J. W. H. TRAIL ‘“‘Corn-fields, common” (P. M.) Not mentioned by any other local botanist, though a common weed of cultivation. Adt. Ps. In all, a common weed of fields and gardens, and occasionally in suitable habitats beyond these limits. V, Curtisii, Forster. Sea-side Pansy. Native on the dunes, and occasionally on dry banks beyond the Links, even a few miles inland. It is the most common pansy of the sandy links on the east coast of Scotland, so far as I have observed, though not recorded from the east side of Scotland until 1885 by myself (Scot. Nat., p. 79), from near Aberdeen. In this district the flowers vary much in colour ; but are not often wholly yellow. Adt. Ps: :::: : 0. Links north of the Don, often plentiful. [V. lutea, Hudson. Mountain Pansy.] Native. “On a brae at Pitmuxton, rare’? (Cow). There seems to be no other record for Aberdeen ; and Cow was not sufficiently careful in distinguishing between similar species to make his record trust- worthy. Abundant in some parts of the valleys of the Dee and Don, but not near the coast. I once found the purple-flowered variety (amena) in Peterculter, a little west of Countesswells; but have no other note of its occur- rence even in the parishes adjoining Aberdeen. V. cornuta, li. Horned Pansy. Casual or subdenizen, originating probably from garden outcasts; native of southern Europe. A large patch had established itself as a denizen by an old road near the present Rubislaw Den South; but was destroyed a few years ago, when that street was laid out. I found a small patch on a bit of waste ground by Stocket Road, near its west end in October, 1907. It grew in small quantity by the small stream west of Auchmill, Newhills, in October, 1913. This pansy is of rather common occurrence in patches by roads and streams or ditches in various parts of Aberdeenshire and Kincardineshire ; and seems likely to establish itself as a permanent denizen. POLYGALACEZ. Polygala vulgaris, 2. Common Milkwort. Native in natural pastures. ‘Tn ericetis et locis siccis sterilioribus”’ (Skene). ‘‘ Pitmuck- FLORA OF ABERDEEN 125 ston Moss, 1807” (Knight hb.). ‘‘ On the north end of the Broad- hill and Links; in the Den of Rubislaw ; on Donside below the Bridges ” (Cow). The aggregate P. vulgaris referred to in these records is ex- tremely common on grassy heaths and in natural pastures in many places in the district around Aberdeen, and must have been so within the parish formerly, though now scarce in it. Of the forms or “species” included under the aggregate the following have been found by me locally :— P, vulgaris, Z., s. stv., near the Dee, near Hazlehead, and near Hilton. Adt. Ps.: B:::: 0. Rather scarce. P. serpyllacea, Wezhe, in the same localities as the former, and also on the sand-dunes near the Don. Adt. Ps. In all; very abundant on Scotston Moor, and in a good many other localities; extremely varied in colour of the flowers. [P. oxyptera, Rezchend.| occurs on Scotston Moor, near the Dee at Murtle, on moors in Nigg, and probably elsewhere, though not recorded by name; but it has not been noted within Aberdeen. CARYOPHYLLACE/., Dianthus barbatus, L. Sweet-William. Casual, escaped from cultivation, having been long a favourite in gardens in Scotland ; native of southern Hurope, in mountain pastures. “Den of Rubislaw; and about Sunnybank; not indigenous” (Cow). I have seen it growing by the Dee near Allenvale. It is a rare casual, Adt. Ps. : B:::::. On shingle by the Dee above Ardoe. [D. deltoides, L.] was found by me near the mouth of the burn from Denmore on 16th August, 1916, in one place in flower, in fair quantity. Saponaria Vaccaria, L. Probably a native of Asia Minor, and a common weed of cultivation in south-eastern Europe ; locally a casual on rubbish, and as a rather scarce weed in fields. It is no doubt introduced with the seeds of cereals or other field crops, such as tares, among which it is not rare. It was noticed near Aberdeen, for the first time, by me in 1878, in a corn-field near Old Aberdeen ; and I have frequently found it 126 J. W. H. TRAIL since then in Aberdeenshire, especially in recent years, so that it may become a colonist of the same type as the Corn-cockle. It has not been recorded from the immediately adjacent parishes. S. officinalis, L. Common Soapwort or Fuller’s-herb. Rare subdenizen, probably escaped or outcast, or survival from the period when this native of central Europe was cultivated here as a useful plant. “Solummodo (uti scio) ad Hangman’s Brae” (Skene). ‘On waste places and waysides, in the Den of Rubislaw; on Donside above the bridge’’ (Cow). ‘Occasionally by roadsides, but always the outcast of a garden” (P. M.). I have only twice met with this plant within Aberdeen, both being near gardens. Though perennial it does not seem able to establish itself near the town; but it does so in a few localities in the neighbouring counties. Close to Aberdeen it appears to have been more frequent formerly, perhaps because more often cultivated then. Adt. Ps.: B: PNh::. A rare subdenizen. Silene latifolia, Rendle et Britten (S. Cucubalus, Wib.). Blad- der Campion. Accepted as native in the greater part of the British Islands; but very doubtfully so near Aberdeen, where it can scarcely be regarded as an established resident. “ Gallowhill”’ (Knight). ‘Near Powder Magazine, and near New Pier, 1834” (Dickie hb.). ‘‘ Footdee, banks of Dee and Don, etc.” (B. G.). It isa scarce plant about Aberdeen, usually appearing singly (e.g., near Rubislaw and Old Aberdeen), by a field, or on rubbish, and rarely keeping its place for more than a year or two. Adt. Ps. Ng:: PNhDO. Scarce and uncertain. Var. puberula, Syme. “The hairy variety I found in a field at Broomhill, 1823” (Harvey). I once found this variety by a field near Aberdeen ; and have gathered it twice or thrice in Aberdeenshire, though not in the parishes adjacent to the city. S. maritima, With. Sea Campion. Native on shingle by the Dee, and plentiful on the rocky coast of Kincardineshire. “Hane plantam inyenio in ripis arenosis Dee” (Skene). “Banks of Dee and along the coast; on the Inch. Abundant” (Fl. Ab.). FLORA OF ABERDEEN 127 It is now very scarce by the Dee within Aberdeen, having been almost extirpated locally by the alterations artificially made in the estuary ; but it is common on banks of sand and pebbles in many places along the Dee, beyond our boundary. Adt, Psy Nove MG Rte). S. anglica, L. English Catchfly. Locally a casual on town-refuse, probably brought among the seeds of cereals from continental Europe, though accepted as native in different localities in southern Britain. Found by me in 1893 on the old bed of the Dee, and in 1903 and subsequent years on refuse on Old Aberdeen Links and else- where, but rarely. Var. quinquevulnera, L. On town-refuse on the Links, near the Broadhill, in 1903; a rare casual. S. conica, L. Striated Campion: A rare casual here. In 1904 I found a few plants in a field of oats near the Bay of Nigg, no doubt introduced with seed, perhaps from Fife, or from some other locality in Scotland where it occurs as a common field- weed. S. cretica, L. Native of southern Kurope. Once found, as a weed in my garden, in Old Aberdeen, in 1907, possibly brought in town manure. S. laeta, A. Br. Native of the Mediterranean coast of Africa. Once on town-refuse on Old Aberdeen Links, in 1903. S. dichotoma, Ehrh. Casual on rubbish and as a weed in grass fields and among cereals; probably introduced with agri- cultural seeds from central or south-eastern Europe. First found by me in 1893, on the old bed of the Dee; after- wards once or twice in fields near Old Aberdeen. Adt. Ps. Ng ::: (Nh): :. A few plants in a field near Bay of Nigg, in 1904. It is still very scarce near Aberdeen; but I have found it almost as a colonist in two or three places in Aber- deenshire, and in the valley of the Spey. S. noctiflora, L. Night-flowering Campion. Casual. On town-refuse, since 1904, on Old Aberdeen Links, and com- mon in 1913 on a rubbish-tip near Fonthill Terrace; probably from grain-siftings. It is a common weed of crops in many countries, including England and the south of Scotland. 128 J. W. H. TRAIL Lychnis Flos-cuculi, Z. Ragged Robin. Native in wet ground. ‘In pascuis humidioribus” (Skene). “Den of Rubislaw; Gilcomston Dam” (Knight). ‘‘ Meadow west the Snow Church” (Cow). Though it must have been abundant within the parish before drainage of the surface, it is now extremely scarce locally, lingering here and there, as by the Don, and by ditches, and in moist hollows. Adt. Ps. In all; generally distributed in suitable habitats ; often plentiful locally. L. alba, Miller. White Campion. Probably native, but perhaps alien. “ Ferryhill,” ‘“‘ Roadside between Gordon’s Mills and the Canal”’ (Beattie, as white L. dioica) (Knight). ‘On a bank near the Print- field, with white flowers” (Cow, under L. dioica). ‘‘ About Robs- law” (B. G.). It is nowhere common near Aberdeen, and is uncertain in its: appearances in any locality. Occasionally it may be found by sides of fields or among grass grown for hay, as at Old Aberdeen, and near Rubislaw; but it grows more often on town-refuse and on waste ground, as on the old bed of the Dee. Its habitats thus throw doubt on its being native locally, though accepted as such in most parts of Britain. Adt. Ps. Ng B(M)P Nh: O. The same remarks apply as for Aberdeen. L. dioica, L. (L. diurna, Sibth.). Red Campion. Native, in thickets usually. ‘Tn rupibus Don” (Skene). ‘‘On the braes above the Bridge of Don, abundant” (Cow). It is still abundant on the rocky banks on both sides of the Don above the Old Bridge. I have also seen it, as an alien, on the old bed of the Dee, near the Railway Station. Adt. Ps. Ng BMP: (D)0O. Locally common on the rocky coast of Kincardineshire, and on rough banks by Dee and Don. Often grown in old gardens. L. Githago, Scop. Corn Cockle. Casual, or uncertain colonist, as a weed in fields or on rubbish; introduced with seeds of cereals and tares ; possibly native in south-eastern Europe, but a weed of cultivation very widely dispersed. FLORA OF ABERDEEN 129 “Passim inter segetes’’ (Skene). ‘‘Carden’s Howe, 1807” (Knight hb.). ‘In corn fields, among wheat and flax, occasionally about Aberdeen”’ (Cow). ‘“‘Cornfields, especially of wheat, fre- quent” (P. M.). ‘Frequent in cultivated fields throughout the district” (B. G.). This might now be called one of the rarer weeds of cultivation around Aberdeen, tares being almost the only crop in which one ever sees more than a very few flowers. Its continued appearance seems to be due to fresh introduction of seeds with tares and other agricultural seeds ; and its greater frequency formerly was probably due to its seeds being often brought with wheat, while that cereal was cultivated near Aberdeen. Since wheat ceased to be grown locally, before 1870, tares seem to be the seeds with which the Corn Cockle is chiefly introduced. It does not appear able to establish itself as a colonist in this part of Scotland. Adt. Ps.) Ng:M PNhDO. Sometimes fairly common among tares; and occasionally among other agricultural crops and on waste ground. Cerastium tetrandrum, Curtis. Four-cleft Mouse-ear-chick- weed. Native on sandhills and rocks by the coast; less common on dry soils inland. “Aberdeen Links, 1801” (Knight hb.). “Inches, 1833” (Dickie hb.). ‘On sandy shores and gravelly soils” (Cow). ‘On the sandhills ; on the Inch, ete.” (Fl. Ab.). It is still plentiful on the sandhills near the Don; and also grows in crevices between stones and rocks near the mouth of the Dee, east of Torry; and it may also be found on walls and dry banks throughout the parish. Adt. Ps. Ng B:::: 0. Almost confined to the coasts. C. semidecandrum, LZ. Little Mouse-ear-chickweed. Na- tive, on dry soils. “Crescit in muris, tectis, locis siccis vel arenosis” (Skene). ‘‘ Dykes between Stocket and Aberdeen, Dykes of Leslie’s garden” in Old Aberdeen (Beattie). ‘“ Links near the mouth of the Don” (Cow). ‘At the South Pier, Old Town Links, Inch, etc.” (B. G.). This is very plentiful in spring and early summer on the sand- hills and other dry soils of the Links; also among stones and rocks near the mouth of the Dee; and on dry banks and walls inland, though not so abundant on these. Adt. Ps. Ng BM P:: 0. Common locally. 130 J Wie. SER ATE C. viscosum, L. (C. glomeratum, Thuill.). Broad-leaved Mouse-ear-chickweed. Native. “Fields, pastures and waysides, common; on the Links, north the Broadhill ; at Kittybrewster’s toll, by the roadsides, ete.” (Cow). Somewhat local, although in some places abundant, especially in shallow ditches that are dry during most of the summer. Var. apetalum, Duwm., with petals very small or absent, may be found occasionally, though apt to be overlooked as merely not in flower. Adt. Ps. In all; locally plentiful. C. vulgatum, ZL. (C. triviale, Link). Narrow-leaved Mouse- ear-chickweed. Native in many places, and very frequent as a weed of cultivation and on waste ground and rubbish. “Tn pratis et in cultis, passim” (Skene). Common in all kinds of ground. It does not show any very marked varieties locally. Adt. Ps. In all; abundant. C. hirsutum, Tenore. Of this plant of southern Hurope I found two or three vigorous plants in an old sandpit near Tillydrone in 1905. They continued to spread slowly until covered up with rubbish in 1908. The plant is so inconspicuous that it seems unlikely to be cultivated; so the mode of introduction to the sandpit must remain uncertain. C. arvense, LZ. Field Mouse-ear-chickweed. I have no certain record of this as found native within Aberdeen parish; but. it may very probably have been so, as it is native in the adjacent parishes, in dry fields. ‘“‘In a field near the north end of the Bridge of Dee” (Knight, and B.G.). This locality may have been within the parish, and in any case must refer to a habitat close to the boundary. In 1891 I placed one or two plants from near Murtle on a sloping bank by a field west of the Chanonry, Old Aberdeen, where they have spread a little. Adt. Ps. : BM P Nh D (O). Very local; but somewhat plentiful in one or two limited areas. Stellaria media, 2. Common Chickweed. Apparently native in broken ground, though seldom common there; very plentiful as a weed of gardens and fields, on waste ground, and on rubbish. ‘‘ Passim in umbrosis, cultis, ad vias” (Skene). FLORA OF ABERDEEN 131 A yery common weed; varying considerably in size, in leaf- stalks, and in the sepals being glabrous or hairy; but I have not found any named varieties near Aberdeen; although the petals vary considerably in size, and the stamens vary from three to five, with sterile filaments added at times. Adt. Ps. In all, plentiful. S. Holostea, Z. Greater Stitchwort. Native, on rough banks usually. ‘‘Passim in sylvis et incultis” (Skene). ‘‘ Rubislaw; banks of Don near the Bridge” (Harvey). Still common in both localities; but rare in other parts of Aberdeen. Adt. Ps. In all; local, but common in some places. S, graminea, L. Lesser Stitchwort. Native. ‘‘Passim locis siccioribus” (Skene). ‘On dry pastures and heaths, common; on the Links north the Broadhill; in the Den of Rubislaw’”’ (Cow). Still in small quantity on the Links, and common by roads and in dry natural pastures elsewhere. Adt. Ps. In all, locally plentiful. ““§. glauca (Glaucous Marsh Stitchwort). In ditches and wet marshy places, abundant’? (Cow). This is certainly an error of identification by Cow; as the species does not grow near Aberdeen. S. uliginosa, Murray. Marsh or Bog Stitchwort. Native in wet places. ‘In fossis et locis udis” (Skene). ‘Stocket Moor, 1834’” (Dickie hb.). Too general to require mention of localities; though certainly restricted by drainage and by extension of the city. Adt. Ps. In all; common and generally distributed. Arenaria serpyllifolia, ZL. Thyme-leaved Sandwort. Native, not common. ““Raeden” (Knight). ‘Old walls near Westfield and near Woodhill, and dikes at Broomhill, 1827” (Harvey). ‘‘Tops of walls behind Kittybrewster toll-bar: walls near Raeden; near Ferryhill Moss” (Fl. Ab.). I have not seen this plant in these localities ; but have found it 132 See Wie et RAE occasionally on dry banks, and on earthen walls and bare soil by roads, as at Tillydrone. Adt. Ps. ::: PNhDO. Local, and seldom common. Var. leptoclados (Guss.) was found by Mr. John Sim within Aberdeen. I have not seen it here; but have found it just outside the limits of the parish, in Newhills, and plentifully on refuse-heaps at the quarries north of the Don near the bridge at Persley. [A. trinervia, 2. Three-nerved Sandwort.] Native in woods and thickets. Local and scarce in this neighbourhood. Not known to have been found within Aberdeen; though it may have not improbably grown here under natural conditions of the surface. ENG h asia edits. Gul ui) Ska ee Honkenya peploides, Zirh. Sea Purslane. Native on sea- coast. “Tn arena mobili ad maris littora, 29th July, 1763, in great plenty betwixt Dee and Don; it is now in seed” (Skene). ‘On the Inches, beach at Torry, and opposite New Pier” (Cow). Alterations made in the estuary of the Dee have almost ex- tirpated it by that river; but it is still common on the Links. Adt.Ps. NgB:::: 0. Onthe sea-coast ; common, locally abundant. Sagina maritima, Don. Sea Pearlwort. Native on coast and by estuaries. “Coast near Aberdeen, G. Don” (Eng. Fl., I., 239). “Inch” (Knight). ‘ New Pier, Inches and Old Town Links, 1834” (Dickie hb.). ‘‘ Tidal line at railway viaduct” by the Dee (B. G.). Alterations in the estuary of the Dee have greatly lessened its prevalence there ; but it is still common on the low ground of Old Aberdeen Links, where liable to be overflowed by high tides. It is probable that the changes at present being carried out on the Links will render the species scarce there also, if they do not lead to its local extinction. Adt. Ps. Ng ::::::. In crevices of rocks, on bare soil, ete. S. apetala, Arduino. Small-flowered Pearlwort. Probably native. FLORA OF ABERDEEN 133 “On the Inches, Dr. Macgillivray” (P.M.). This refers certainly to S. maritima, not to S. apetala. Assured evidence of the latter species within the parish was supplied by my finding several examples growing on an old wall by a road near Kepplestone in October, 1907, and strong, much branched plants in abundance on the site of Rubislaw Bleach- works in the autumn of 1909. ; In September, 1912, a few grew on bare made-up soil to the east of Sunnybank House near the Spital. Adt. Ps. Ng:::: DO. Plentiful in July, 1907, on bare ground among piles of wood at Dyce Railway Station, on cinders strewn a few months previously; but it has become scarcer since 1907. Mr. Cobban informs me that he found it here in 1894. In October, 1909, I found several plants on an old refuse-heap in Persley Quarries, and in September, 1911, it was fairly plentiful on an old road in Cove Quarry, Nigg. The situations in which alone it has been observed in and near Aberdeen cast doubt on its source here, though it may be native, but overlooked owing to its inconspicuous appearance. S. ciliata, /r. Ciliated Pearlwort. Native. Recorded by Mr. John Sim from Cornhill, found in September, 1864. T had seen no example from within our limits until September, 1915, when I found it in plenty in Burnside Nurseries among young conifers. Adt. Ps. Ng :::::.:. Found by me just beyond the boundary on a dry bank on ‘the coast at Greyhope Bay, in autumn 1903, and on the high bank near the Bay of Nigg west of Girdleness Light- house in 1909. S. procumbens, LZ. Procumbent Pearlwort. Native. ‘‘Passim in humidiusculis ’’ (Skene). On all kinds of soil, waste or bare places, walls, etc.; very common, and generally distributed. Adt. Ps. In all; very common. S. subulata, Presi. Awl-leaved Pearlwort. Native on dry soils, scarce. “Rubislaw Quarries” (Knight). ‘ Banks of Dee, ete., not in- frequent ” (FI. Ab.). I have not seen any example from within the parish, where it must have been much limited by surface changes. 134 Be) ee s ed 370 Adt. Ps. Ng B: P.:: 0. Very local; but occasionally not scarce. ‘‘Girdleness’’ (Knight). At the Bay of Greyhope, with S. ciliata, and roadside between Loirston and Altens in Nigg; Persley Quarries, on debris. S. nodosa, Fenzl. Knotted Pearlwort, Native in damp places; but very local, and now very rare within Aberdeen. ‘“T first met with the Spergula nodosa pretty frequent in damp places in the Old Town Links, July 29, 1763” (Skene). ‘‘Meadows N.W. side above the Dam of Gilcomston”’ (Beattie). ‘‘Tjinks”’ (Harvey). ‘On the Links north the Broadhill ; on the Inches” Cow). ‘Old Town Links, and gravelly banks on Stocket Moor” (Knight and Fl. Ab.). Extirpated from the Inches and from Stocket Moor upwards of thirty years ago, the Knotted Pearlwort still lingers on the swampy north part of Old Aberdeen Links; but its existence is in danger there also. Adt. Ps. : : : : : : O. In marshes in two or three places in Old Machar; locally not uncommon. Spergula arvensis, L. Corn Spurrey; locally called Yarr. Colonist. ‘In cornfields, common, near the Bridge of Don, and west the Broadhill ; at Rubislaw ; at Hilton ; etc.’’ (Cow). The forms usually included under S. arvensis are so distinct as to warrant their being regarded as distinct species. Two occur here :— S. sativa, Boenn. Very plentiful on cultivated soil as a weed among cereals and root-crops; introduced with seeds, probably from northern Europe, where it is the common form. It is common on waste bare ground near fields; and has almost become a denizen on bare places by streams, in rabbit warrens, etc., where newly exposed soil permits its growth. Adt. Ps. In all; a far too abundant weed. S. vulgaris, Boenn. Though I often looked for this plant around Aberdeen, I never found it until 1893, when I came on one or two examples on the old bed of the Dee, near the Railway Station. I have since then found it occasionally on rubbish on the Links, but not as a field-weed within the parish. From 1894 onwards I have seen it as a weed among crops in a good many parishes in various parts of the counties near Aberdeen. It usually is seattered among the other form; but occasionally it is rather FLORA OF ABERDEEN 135 common ; and it appears to be becoming more common. It is the form more frequent in the southern half of Europe, including England. The distribution of the two suggests that Scotland received its agricultural seeds rather from northern than from southern Hurope. Adt. Ps. Ng ::P Nh DO. Local and scarce in all five parishes. Spergularia rubra, St. Hil. Field Sandwort-spurrey. Native. ‘“ Passim ad vias” (Skene). “On dry gravelly soils, common ; on the Inches; on the sea-beach at Torry, opposite new pier; on the side of a road, back of Powis, leading to the Canal” (Cow). Noted as “common” by Dickie (Fl. Ab.) and by P. Macgillivray (1853). I have not seen it common within the parish north of the Dee, though a few plants may be found on waste ground or by roads in most places occasionally. It is very abundant on the sloping south bank of the Dee between the Victoria and Suspension Bridges. Adt. Ps. In all; but seldom plentiful. S. marina, Camb. Sea-side Sandwort-spurrey. Native on the coast, sandy or rocky, where the soil contains salts from sea- water or spray. “In arena maritima, near the Old-town Brickwork, where the Glaux is, August 1, 1763” (Skene). ‘ Links near Brick-kilns ” (Harvey, 1827). ‘‘Sea coast in many places, common on the Inches, ete.’’ (Cow). The aggregate near Aberdeen includes two forms, distributed thus :— S. media (Pers.) Presl (Alsine marginata, Reich.). Not plentiful, but a few in the wetter turf of the Links near the Don; also in crevices of piers and rocks south of the Dee. Probably on the shores of the estuary, and on the Inches formerly. Adt. Ps. NgB:::::. On rocky coast, sparingly. S. salina, Pres) var. neglecta (Kindb.). Still fairly common on the Links near the Don where liable to be overflowed by the highest tides. Rare by the Dee near Torry; but probably frequent beside the estuary and on the Inches before 1860. PORTULACACEZ. Claytonia perfoliata, Donn. Native in N. America, from British Columbia to Mexico; cultivated in gardens occasionally, and 136 dig, Wise lat, ulevew lb) establishing itself as a weed. A subdenizen in one or two gardens in Old Aberdeen. Adt. Ps. :::: (Nh) ::. ‘Asa weed in garden at Bankhead, 1893” (J. Cobban). Established as a denizen, Uppermill, in Kintore. [C. sebirica, L.] A native of N. Asia ; cultivated occasionally in gardens or shrubberies, in which it readily tends to establish itself as a denizen, by seeds, on damp bare soil. Not recorded from within Aberdeen. Well established in the Corbie Den, in M. Montia fontana, L. Water-blinks. Native in wet places. “Passim in locis humidis” (Skene). ‘‘Old Town Links, common, 1835” (Dickie hb.). This must have been much more common formerly. Adt. Ps. In all; very general, and in many places abundant. HYPERICACEZ. Hypericum Androsemum, L. Tutsan. A rare casual locally ; though native in great part of southern Britain. ‘Den of Rubislaw”’ (Cow). Probably planted there. H. calycinum, L. Large-flowered St. John’s-wort, or Aaron’s-beard. A rare casual. Native in Greece ; long cultivated in British gardens. Found by me, in 1907, in Rubislaw Quarry. H, perforatum, LZ. Perforate St. John’s-wort. Native ; but apparently extinct in Aberdeen. “Den of Rubislaw, 1809” (Knight hb.). Mentioned from the Den by Harvey, Cow, and Dickie. ‘On Donside above the Bridge’ (Beattie and Cow). I have never seen it wild in the parish, but have seen a speci- men that came up in 1903 as a weed in a garden in Carden Place. The record for Donside may be in error for H. hirsutwm, which grows there, as was noted by Beattie, but which was not men- tioned by Cow. Cie sits sls Rares H. quadrangulum, ZL. Square-stalked St. John’s-wort Native, in wet soil. “Tn palustribus” (Skene). ‘‘Den of Rubislaw”’ (Knight and Cow). ‘‘Gilecomston Dam” (Knight, Fl. Ab. and P. M., 1853). “« By the side of the burn at Robslaw Bleachfield”’ (B. G.). FLORA OF ABERDEEN 137 Drainage must have greatly reduced its prevalence in Aberdeen. I have seen it growing within the parish only by the Don above Woodside, where it is not common. Adt. Ps. : BM P(Nh)D: . Local and seldom common. H. humifusum, Z. Trailing St. John’s-wort. Native, in thin pastures. “Rubislaw, Morningfield, Craiglug” (Beattie). ‘‘ On walls, not unfrequent” (Knight). “Fields at Broomhill” (Harvey). ‘On the roadside leading to Hilton from Kittybrewster Toll” (Cow). It seems almost extinct now in Aberdeen, as a result of agri- culture, and of extension of streets. I have only once found it here, in 1902, on a new road, now a street, a little west of the old Boat- house, north of Kittybrewster. Adt. Ps. (Ng): MPNhDO. Not common. A few plants of var. decumbens grew on quarry refuse north of Persley Bridge in July, 1915. H. pulchrum, LZ. Upright St. John’s-wort. Native on dry poor soils. “Tn sterilioribus frequens” (Skene). ‘‘Den of Rubislaw ; on Donside above the Bridge” (Cow). Its habitats have been much limited by agriculture, so that it is now a scarce plant within the parish. I have found it sparingly, about Hilton and Rosehill, onthe old quarries at Rubislaw, and on the small remains of moor beyond them. Adt. Ps. In all; widespread, on moorlands often frequent. H. hirsutum, ZL. Hairy St. John’s-wort. Native, on rough banks. Rare. Found by me, in 1902, in small quantity by the Don above Woodside. Adt. Ps. (Ng) BMPNhDO. Rather frequent by the Dee and by the Don in O, “ Don Braes”’ (Knight, and “1819,” Mac- gillivray hb.), not so elsewhere. MALVACEZ., No species of this family has a claim to be regarded as native in this part of Scotland. Malva moschata, L. Musk Mallow. Locally a casual; though accepted as native in southern Britain. Formerly often cultivated in cottage gardens locally, explaining its greater frequency as an outcast or escape. L 138 J. W. H. TRAE “Roadside near Richmond Hill; near Belmont, ete.” (Dickie, 1838). ‘(Formerly at Footdee” (Prof. Macgillivray, in Nat. Hist. of Deeside). I have not seen it apparently wild in Aberdeen or adjacent parishes. M. sylvestris, L. Common Mallow. Casual or subdenizen near Aberdeen. Native of Europe; well-established denizen, if not native of many parts of the British islands. Often cultivated in cottage gardens. ‘“‘Stocket not common ”’ (Beattie and Knight). ‘‘ On the Inches ; by the Boil-yards at Footdee; at King’s College, rare” (Cow). ‘Carden’s Haugh, rare”’ (Fl. Ab.). I have seen it as an evident escape near cottages, not far from the Old Bridge of Don. Adt. Ps. Ng: M P Nh DO. USE near cottages or rail- ways, well established in a few places. M. rotundifolia, L. Dwarf Mallow. Casual. Probably native in Central Asia, and only a denizen of waste ground in Europe. “Passim ad vias” (Skene, under “sylvestris,” but with a description that shows his plant to have been M. rotundifolia). ‘‘Hangman’s Yard, Aberdeen” (Beattie). “At the Sugar House, 1801” (Knight). ‘A single plant at Footdee in 1826” (Cow). ‘At the Suspension Bridge” (Nat. Hist. of Deeside). ‘‘ Among sand at south end of Fish-town of Footdee, rare” (B. G., as a native plant). I have found it occasionally on town-refuse, as on the old bed of the Dee, in asand-pit at the Gallowhill, etc., but only as a casual. ING Me NEG BUR Sv INMol Be M. parviflora, L. Small-flowered Mallow. Casual. Native in the Mediterranean region, and a weed of cultivation there and in Central Europe. Occasionally on town-refuse, e.g., on the old bed of the Dee, in 1893, on Old Aberdeen Links, ete. dts. oti: c+: (D), : 2 Rare: M. borealis, Hartm. Northern Mallow. Casual. Native of Northern and Central Europe, where it is a frequent weed of cultivation. Like M. parviflora in its occurrences; both probably being FLORA OF ABERDEEN 139 brought among cereals from Continental Europe, and cast out in seed-siftings. TILIACEZ. Tilia spp., Lime-trees, are frequent in and around Aberdeen ; but although they flower freely, they do not ripen seeds, and must all have been planted where they grow. LINACEA. Radiola linoides, Roth. Thyme-leaved Flax-seed. Native; now extinct. ‘Tn campis nostris maritimis” (Skene). “Links” (Harvey). It has not been found on the Links or elsewhere in Aberdeen for many years; and appears to be extinct as a local plant, though its small size may lead to its being overlooked. Adt. Ps. (Ng) (B):::: 0. Very local. It exists, in small quantity, on an old road across Scotston Moor. Linum catharticum, Z. Purging Flax. Native, in short natural pasture, as on moors, but approaching extinction within Aberdeen. ‘Ad ripas fluminum, et in pratis” (Skene). ‘Old Town Links” (Beattie). ‘ Stocket Moor” (Knight). ‘Deeside, below the Bridge’ (Cow). It must have been not uncommon formerly within the parish ; but I have seen only a few examples in short turf near Rubislaw and on the inner sandhills near the Don. Adt. Ps)5 Ng BMPNh:O. General, and common in suit- able habitats. L. usitatissimum, L. Common or Cultivated Flax. Very widely cultivated from subtropical to cool temperate zones ; per- haps native in N. Africa. Formerly a good deal cultivated in the North-east of Scotland, but now rarely so. It is still a very frequent casual on town-refuse, as on the old bed of the Dee, on the Links, and in many places around Aberdeen. It is a frequent weed among tares, and less often among other annual crops of cultivated ground. Adt. Ps. Ng ::(P)Nh::. A rare casual. L. perenne, Li. On refuse-tip in Ferryhill, 20 October, 1915, two plants, one with fl. buds and fruits, and one with ripe fruits. 140 i. W. BE. TRAIL GERANIACEZ. Geranium striatum, L. 3.2 KGnecaugies” (Knight). P. Avium, Ll. Gean. Probably not native, though well- established in the valley of the Dee. Rare in Aberdeen. Adt. Ps.: BM PNhDO. Rarely Common. 158 J. W. H. TRAIL P. Padus, Z. Bird Cherry. Native. “ Hilton” (Knight). ‘‘ Rubislaw, 1837” (Laing hb.). I have not seen any other example from Aberdeen. Adt. Ps. : BM PNh : (O). Common in the valley of the Dee ; rare elsewhere. ‘‘Fraserfield”’ (Beattie). This was a former name for the property of Balgownie. Spiraea salicifolia, L. Native of the N. Temperate Zone; often planted in this district, as an ornamental shrub, so as to have become a subdenizen in several places. “In the Den of Rubislaw and a ditch north of it; at Powis Hermitage’ (Cow). AdtiPs.): 202 Nbtoe sa erylocal: S. Ulmaria, Z. Meadow-sweet or Queen-of-the-Meadow. Native. “ Pitmuckston, Rubislaw”’ (Knight). ‘In the Den of Rubislaw ; on Deeside and Don, abundant; on the banks of streams at the Printfield, ete.” (Cow). It is still common about Aberdeen in wet places, though drain- age must have greatly limited its range. Adt. Ps. In all; common, and often abundant in wet places. Var. denudata, Boenn. I have found this variety here and there, e.g. by the Don near Woodside. The leaves vary so much in the degree of hairiness on the lower surface, even on the same plant that the variety seems scarcely worthy of a name. S. Filipendula, L. Common Dropwort. Only as a casual, or escape. “In the Den of Rubislaw’”’ (Cow). Adt. Ps.::: P:::. Rare; once found by me near Cults ; outcast. Rubus idaeus, LZ. Wild Raspberry. Native in woods and on rough ground. “‘Rubislaw ” (Beattie). ‘‘ Donside ; Stocket’’ (Knight). ‘‘Com- mon on Donside, above the Bridge; at Woodside, by the river” (Cow). It is still common on the banks of the Don; about old quarries at Rubislaw and Hilton; and on waste and rough ground in other parts of Aberdeen ; though its habitats have been greatly limited by agriculture and by the extension of the city. A pale-fruited variety may be met with here and there, as near Hilton. This variety FLORA OF ABERDEEN 159 appears to occur spontaneously among wild raspberries in the counties near Aberdeen. Adt. Ps. In all; plentiful. Great differences exist in the abundance of prickles on the stems and leaves, some plants being covered with them, while others are almost unarmed. I have oc- casionally found var. obtusifolius (Willd.) in this district, though not within the “adjacent parishes” until October, 1909, when I found a clump of it on the slope about 200 or 300 yards east of the Church of Nigg. In Midmar, from fifteen to. twenty miles west of Aberdeen, there is a tendency for the raspberry leaves to show digitate divisions, much like some forms of bramble leaves. [R. suberectus, Anders.| Among the group of Suberect Brambles none has been observed within the limits of Aberdeen, though there is reason to believe that they were among the native flora of the parish; but I have examples of the following, gathered by myself, from the vicinity :— R. fissus, Lindl. Near Grandholm in Old Machar, R. plicatus, W. et N. Near Culter, and R. Rogersii, Linton. In parish of Dyce. R, fruticosus, L., agg. Bramble or Blackberry. Native in thickets and on rough banks about Aberdeen ; limited by agriculture and buildings. Of the numerous forms included under this aggregate, I have gathered examples of the following within Aberdeen, the names being given, as for the suberect brambles, by the Rev. W. Moyle Rogers; who very kindly examined my local collection :— R. latifolius, Bab. In Seaton, rare. Adt. Ps. :::::: 0. Local and rare. R. rusticanus, Merc. By a road near Hilton, scarce. In September, 1914, I found a plant by the Dee below Murtle. R, mucronatus, Blox. By the Don near Seaton, about Woodside, Hilton, and Rubislaw; probably the most common bramble near Aberdeen. Adt. Ps. In all; common. R. radula, Weihe. Once by a road near Hilton. Adte Bayo Ps: a Rare: Var. echinatoides, Rogers. Rather frequent by roads near Hilton and Kittybrewster. Adts Psi) Ngo: : BP Nhv 32a focal. 160 J. W. H. TRAIL R. corylifolius, Sm. Hazel-leaved Bramble. Native in same habitats as R. fruticosus forms; local and scarcely common. “Den of Rubislaw” (Knight and Fl. Ab.). I have seen it at Rubislaw and Hilton, by roads and on quarry refuse. Adt. Ps. In all; rather local. [R. saxatilis, Z. Stone Bramble.] Native in N.E. Scot- land, on rough banks, ete., but not recorded from Aberdeen. Adt. Ps. :: M: Nh::. ‘“Maidencraig” (Knight). Wood near “‘ Robber’s Cave,” Clinterty, 22 September, 1917. Geum urbanum, LZ. Common Avens. Native by sides of woods, thickets, and hedges; locally plentiful. “Ad aggeres” (Skene). “Near Hilton” (Beattie and Harvey). ‘‘Raeden and Stocket”’ (Knight). ‘‘ At Woodside, by the river; in the Den of Rubislaw’ (Cow). “Roadside at Richmond Hill” (FI. Ab.). Still grows, though in greatly reducediamount, in Aberdeen ; but local. Adt. Ps. Ng BMPNh: O. Local; but plentiful in many places. G, rivale, Z. Water Avens. Native, by streams usually. “‘Rubislaw and Donside”’ (Beattie). ‘‘ Banks of Dee” (Fl. Ab.). Rare within Aberdeen, even by the Dee and the Don, to whose banks it is almost limited. Adt Ps. Neo Mie (Nn) ©; Rainer scarce. [G, rivale x urbanum (G. intermediwm, Ehrh.)] has not been observed within Aberdeen; but it is scarcely rare, though very local, in the valley of the Dee. AdtuaPs Ver sss Pancciaeas G. macrophyllum, Wild. Denizen, abundant in one place in Aberdeen. Native in N. America. Very plentiful during at least thirty years by a large ditch, be- side a road near Woodhill; probably outcast originally from a gar- den near at hand. A few years ago I saw a plant by a road near Cairnery quarry, about quarter of a mile from the bed of it. I do ~ not know of its occurrence in the ‘‘ adjacent parishes”; but have seen it well established in widely separated parts of the county. Fragaria vesca, L. Wild Strawberry. Native; in woods and on braes. FLORA OF ABERDEEN 161 “Den of Rubislaw” (Knight). ‘‘ Woodside, by the river”’ (Cow). ‘Den of Rubislaw and Rubislaw Quarry” (Fl. Ab.). It is now very rare inthe Den; and I do not know of any other ‘station for it in Aberdeen as Cow’s record for Woodside is prob- ably in error for the “Barren Strawberry,” which he does not mention in his list, though it is not uncommon by the Don in some places. Adt. Ps. : BMPWNh: O. Local and rarely frequent. “‘ F’. elatior.”’ Cultivated Strawberries. Outcasts or escapes from cultivation, or sprung from seeds scattered by birds ; often on waste ground, or as relicts of deserted gardens. “In the Den at Rubislaw”’ (Cow). Cultivated Strawberry plants are frequent near Aberdeen; but they are of very mixed origin; and probably the true F’. elatior, Ebrh., is of rare occurrence among them. Adt. Ps. Occasionally in most parishes ; nIEOste a denizen in ‘places. Potentilla recta, L. Casual. Native in Central and 8. Europe. Found by me on the old bed of the Dee, in 1893, and since then on Old Aberdeen Links; but rare. P. intermedia, L. FLORA OF ABERDEEN 243 Var. bifida, Boenn. Not uncommon, though less frequent in Aberdeen than in the country districts. Adt. Ps. In all; a very common colonist. Prasium majus, L. Casual. Native in the Mediterranean area, from which it may have been brought to Aberdeen, as a weed among cereals. Several examples were found by me on town-refuse on Old Aberdeen Links in 1905 and 1909, and on the railway near Don Street Station in 1910, possibly from grain-siftings. Sideritis montana, L. Casual in Britain. Native in the Medi- terranean area, from which it has probably been brought as a weed of cereals. It grew, as a weed in 1904, in a garden in Old Aberdeen, prob- ably introduced with town-manure; and in 1906 several plants appeared on town-refuse on Old Aberdeen Links. I first observed it in Scotland, in 1899, on the banks and on shingle in the Spey, from Aberlour downwards. I was able to trace its presence there to grain-siftings cast on to the banks of streams out of the dis- tilleries, chiefly from barley imported from E. Europe. Lamium amplexicaule, L. Henbit Dead-nettle. Colonist, or weed of cultivated ground in Scotland, as wherever else it is known to grow. “Tn cultis” (Skene). ‘‘Ondry and sandy fields and in gardens ; common in fields west of St. Machar’s Church ; in the garden of Gordon’s Hospital; at Pitmuxton; on a waste place below the Barracks; at Kemhill, etc.” (Cow). General around Aberdeen ; abundant in many fields and gardens, and also in waste ground and on refuse-heaps. Adt. Ps. In all; rather local, but plentiful in places. L. moluccellifoliwm, Fr. (l. intermedium, f’r.). Inter- | mediate Dead-nettle. Colonist throughout Britain, as in the rest of Europe. ‘“‘In hedges and in fields, common ; sides of fields at Ferryhill ; in fields west of the Broadhill ; in field and waste places in the Links-side at Footdee ’’ (Cow). Knight, Cow, Dickie and P. Macgillivray all refer to this species as L. incisum, a name now regarded as a synonym of L. hybridum, Vill. This latter species does not seem to grow in or near Aberdeen, though frequent here and there in 8. Kincardine. 244 : J. W. H. TRAIL L. moluccellifolium is a common weed near Aberdeen. Adt. Ps. Ng BMPNh: O. Frequent in fields and gardens. L. purpureum, L. Common Red Dead-nettle. Colonist. Native land uncertain; but very widely dispersed as a weed of cultivation. ‘Tn agris cultis”’ (Skene). Too plentiful as a weed in fields and gardens, on waste ground and on refuse-heaps, to require citation of records or of localities. Adt. Ps. In all; plentiful. L. album, L. White Dead-nettle. A very local denizen in Aberdeen, but abundant in a few places. Native in the Mediter- ranean region; esteemed formerly as of medicinal value, and probably dispersed by man. Not known in Aberdeen to Skene, who says of this, ‘‘ solum- modo inveni Leithhall” ; nor does Cow mention for it any locality nearer than Culter. Knight says, ‘‘Old Aberdeen, Broomhill, not common.” Dickie (in Fl. Ab.) says, ‘‘ By the road to Old Bridge of Dee; near the Nursery in the Links, ete., not common.” “In waste places near St. Machar’s Church” (Polson hb,). It is now abundant behind walls along the road from Tillydrone to Hayton. It used to be common by the Hardgate; but it has been almost extirpated by changes in that part in recent years. Adt. Ps. ::: P:: 0. Local and not common. LT. maculatum, L. Spotted Dead-nettle. Scarcely more than a casual in Aberdeen, probably as an outcast from gardens. Native in §. and Central Europe. Occasionally on waste ground, e.g., in an old sandpit, near Tillydrone. ~ Teucrium Scorodonia, Z. Wood Germander. Native, on rough banks. ‘In woods and dry stony places, in the Den of Rubislaw; on Donside, abundant ; at Hilton” (Cow). It is plentiful beside the Don, on rough banks in Seaton ; and I have seen it sparingly on old heaps of quarry-refuse near Hilton and in Rubislaw, and also by the Dee at Allenvale. Adt. Ps. In all; locally plentiful on dry rough banks. T. Chamedrys, L. Wall Germander. Native in the Medi- terranean region and in Central Europe. Grown sometimes as a wall-plant. FLORA OF ABERDEEN 245 “Garden walls, Rubislaw” (Beattie). ‘Rubislaw, 1856” (Beveridge hb.). A large clump continued to grow in a semi-wild state in the old and ruinous wall of the garden attached to the old House of Rubislaw until 1887, when the wall was demolished, and the plant perished, Cow records it ‘‘on Donside, above the Bridge, sparingly,” but there is little doubt that the record is erroneous. Ajuga reptans, ZL. Common Bugle. Native in woods and moist pastures, by streams. “In pratis humidiusculis”’ (Skene). ‘‘ Den of Rubislaw ; Don- side above the bridge ” (Cow). Still to be found in the Den of Rubislaw, and in various places near the Don; but it is not common in Aberdeen now as the habitats suited to it have been much restricted by drainage and otherwise. Adt. Ps. In all; rather local. PLANTAGINACEZ:, Plantago major, Z. Greater Plantain. Native in pastures and in waste ground; also a common weed in lawns and other cultivated ground. “ Passim ad vias”’ (Skene). ‘‘ College Court; by all waysides etc.” (Knight). Too general and frequent to require citation of records or of localities. Adt. Ps. In all; very general and common. Var. intermedia (Gilib.). Occasionally on town-refuse, etc., on Old Aberdeen Links and in Rubislaw, probably from imported seeds; rare as a weed in fields. First observed by me near Aber- deen in 1904; apparently not native here. P. media, L. Hoary Plantain. Scarcely more than a casual in lawns in the neighbourhood of Aberdeen, from seeds imported with grasses; though native in England, and probably so in 8. Scotland. “‘Very rare in the district. Formerly in a field near Marine Terrace ’’ (B. G.). I have several times seen it in lawns in Aberdeen, e.g., at Gordon’s College and in the Cruickshank Botanic Garden, evidently brought with the grass seeds. It seems unable to become a denizen, or even a successful colonist, here. 246 J. W. H. TRAIL Adt. Ps): BM PNh: O. Casual and rare. I have seen it growing singly in lawns at Daneston, in O (in July, 1913). Also in M, and in July, 1915, at Craibston House in Nh, and have seen a dried example gathered in P in 1907, also a living specimen gathered in B in May, 1917. P. lanceolata, ZL. Ribwort Plantain; ‘‘ Carldoddies,” “ Soldiers,” or “ Sodgers.” Native; abundant in pastures, natural and artificial, especially so in lawns, also on waste ground, road- sides, rubbish-heaps, etc. ‘“‘Passim in agris et ad vias” (Skene). Too plentiful to require citations of records or of localities. This species varies greatly in size, form, and margins of the leaves, hairiness, and tendency to procumbent or erect growth of leaves and stems; and it differs even more in the length and proportions of the flower-heads, as also in the relative development of stamens and carpels. The flower-heads are frequently branched, and very often they have the bracts leaf-like ; so that occasionally the head is replaced by a cluster of leaves, among which are a few flowers, or small stalked flower-heads, which may repeat the abnormal structure. These peculiar forms are more common in some years than in others, and are more often met with on refuse-heaps, or in other places where the soil contains more food materials than usual. They were exceptionally frequent in the autumn of 1907. I have found that seedlings of affected plants show a tendency to reproduce the abnormal conditions. Adt. Ps. In all; abundant. Var. Timbali (Reichb.). I found one plant of this form on the football ground on Old Aberdeen Links near Hast Seaton in August, 1909, probably from seeds among town-refuse. P. maritima, 2. Sea plantain. Native on the sea-coast ; but not confined to the coast, as it is frequent on exposed ground, e.g., roadsides in many inland places. “Inches ; Deeside below the Old Bridge, etc.’’ (Knight). “On the sea-coast and on dry pastures, common; on Deeside, below the Bridge ; on the Inch; on the Links, plentiful’’ (Cow). Still plentiful on the Links, and on the south bank of the Dee, near the sea, as also on the coast south of Aberdeen ; also here and there by roadsides inland. The Sea Plantain varies much in size, in hairiness, in width, and margins of leaves, and in length of the FLORA OF ABERDEEN 247 flower-head ; and it also may have the bracts more or less leaf-like, and may transmit this structure. Adt. Ps. Ng BM P:: 0. Locally plentiful. P. Coronopus, Z. Staghorn Plantain. Native on sea- coast and by estuaries; never away from the vicinity of the sea in this district. “Passim in campis maritimis’’ (Skene). ‘Old Aberdeen Links” (N. Fl.). “On the Inches” (Cow). Abundant on the low part of Old Aberdeen Links near the Don, less frequent on the inner dunes; scarce now by the Dee, except on the south bank east of Torry; plentiful on the rocky coast south of Aberdeen. The leaves of this species vary extremely in form, segmentation and hairiness, these characters differing among plants growing close together, and still more between those from different localities; but they scarcely afford well-defined varieties. Adt. Ps). Ng B:::: 0. Confined to sea-coast. P. arenaria, W.K. Casual in Aberdeen, introduced with grass seeds. Native in Central and 8. Europe, and in §.W. Asia. In 1894 several examples were found by me on a newly formed slope recently sowed with grass, with which the seeds had no doubt been brought, round the football ground between the Broad- hill and the sea. Littorella uniflora, Aschers. (L. lacustris, L.). Plantain Shore- weed. Native on muddy shores of streams and pools, or growing under water ; but flowering only when exposed to air. “ Rubislaw ” (Beattie and Knight). ‘‘ Wet banks on the south side of the Don and the Links” (Cow). ‘‘Stocket Moor” (Fl. Ab.). This still grows on the wet stony margin of the Don below the Old Bridge; but it seems to have disappeared from the other localities named. It was probably not uncommon in Aberdeen before drainage altered the surface. _Adt. Ps. Ng BM P:D O. General in suitable habitats ; plentiful in some localities. APETALA or MONOCHLAMYDE. ILLECEBRACEA. Scleranthus annuus, ZL. Annual Knawel. Probably native on dry banks though so much more common and vigorous as a weed 248 J. W. H. TRAIL among cereals and other field-crops as to show that its dispersal has been greatly aided by agriculture. “ Perfrequens incola arvorum”’ (Skene). General, and often a plentiful weed in fields. Adt. Ps. In all; a common weed of cultivated ground, as well as general and frequent on bare dry situations suitable for it. AMARANTACEE. Amaranthus retroflecus, L. A rare casual in Aberdeen. Native on prairies in 8. Central states of the U.S., America. Found by me in 1889 by the Dee, in Torry; also in 1891 and in subsequent years on town-refuse on the Links, possibly from seed-shops or grain-siftings. CHENOPODIACEA. Chenopodium polyspermum, L. Many-seeded Goosefoot.. Casual in Aberdeen. Native in Hurope, including 8. England; dispersed widely as a weed of cultivated ground. ‘Common on the Inches ; at Footdee and Torry, etc.” (Cow). Cow had evidently not known the plant, rendering his record worthless. I have seen it only as an extremely rare casual on town-refuse, on Old Aberdeen Links. C. Vulvaria, L. Stinking Goosefoot. Casual in Aberdeen. Native in Europe, probably including 8. England; but only an introduced weed of cultivated and waste ground in Scotland. Near Aberdeen I have seen only one or two examples on town- refuse, since 1905, on Old Aberdeen Links. C. album, L. White Goosefoot. A colonist ; very common as a weed in arable land and in places rich in organic matter, such. as dung-stances. Though so widely diffused as a weed of cultiva- tion, its native land is uncertain. “‘ Most abundant” (Knight). Too general and abundant a weed to require citation of records or localities. The following varieties occur in Aberdeen; all of them being fairly common here :— incanum, Moq. (candicans, Lam.), viride, Syme, and viridescens, St. Am. (paganum, Ferchd.). Adt. Ps. In all; common. The distribution of the varieties. has not been recorded for the several parishes. FLORA OF ABERDEEN 249 C. leptophyllum, Mog. Native on the Pacific slope of the U.S., America, and dispersed eastwards as a weed of cultivated soil. Very distinct in aspect from any of the European forms of C. album, of which it is by some regarded as a variety. Since 1903 I have frequently found this form in some quantity on town-refuse on Old Aberdeen Links, etc., also on the old bed of the Dee, and in sand-pits around Aberdeen; but I have not seen it outside the parish except on rubbish-heaps near Kintore Station. It flowers late, and seems rarely, if ever, to ripen seeds here; hence its occurrence each year must be due to the introduction of fresh seeds, probably in grain-siftings from American importations. C. opulifolum, Schrad. Casual in Aberdeen. Native on waste ground and by roads in Central Europe and in the Mediter- ranean region. One or two found by me on town-refuse, in 1893, on the old bed of the Dee, and in 1905 on Old Aberdeen Links. C. serotinum, L. (C. ficifolium, Sm.). Fig-leaved Goose- foot. Casual in Aberdeen. In cultivated ground, by roadsides, ete. In Central Europe and in the Mediterranean region. Occasionally found by me during the years since 1905 on town- refuse on Old Aberdeen Links, and also near the Railway Stations of Aberdeen and Kintore; a rare plant near Aberdeen. C. rubrum, L. Red Goosefoot. A frequent casual, ap- parently becoming a colonist. Native in Europe, including the shores of England ; dispersed very widely as a weed of cultivation. “Ground west of Bonaccord Street, abundant’’ (Harvey). ‘“Not uncommon” (Knight). ‘‘On the Inch, ete., not frequent ” (Fl. Ab.). There is doubt, in the absence of specimens gathered and named by these botanists, whether their records relate correctly to C. rubrum. Itis now rather frequent on town-refuse on Old Aberdeen Links, in Rubislaw, and elsewhere around Aberdeen. C. urbicum, Cow, non L. Upright Goosefoot. ‘““On waste places and waysides; in fields near the Broadhill ; on waste places and roadsides from Dee Street ; in fields east from Gallowhill, etc.” (Cow). This record is certainly erroneous. I have never seen a single example of the species, living or dried in or from Aberdeen. Cow must have mistaken for it some form of C. album. Ss 250 APs Jel Wise Db) C. Botrys, L. Casual in Aberdeen. Native on sea-shores and by rivers in Central Kurope, and in the Mediterranean region ; dispersed elsewhere as a weed of waste places and of roadsides. Once found by me, in 1905, on town-refuse, on Old Aberdeen Links. C. Bonus-Henvicus, L. Good King Henry, or Mercury Goosefoot. Denizen. Perhaps native among the mountains of 8. Europe; long in cultivation as a useful herb, and widely dis- persed in this way, often escaping and becoming a weed in waste ground, by roadsides, ete. “On a waste place at Stocket-head; on the west wall of Old- town Churchyard ; in Sheriff Moir’s burying-ground, Spittal ”’ (Cow). “Roadside at Mile-end, Stocket, etce., not frequent” (Fl. Ab.). This species appears to have become less frequent in Aber- deen than it formerly was, and than it still is in many places in the neighbouring counties. I have seen it growing in Gilcomston by a road, and in an old sand-pit near Tillydrone. Its disappear- ance from several of the localities quoted above is probably due to extension of streets and roads, as it usually is well able to hold its place if not destroyed by man. Adt. Ps.:::: Nh (D)O. Scarce. By the roadside not far from the Bishop’s Loch, close to houses, also near Bucksburn and Dyce. Beta maritima, L. Sea Beet. Native of the shores of 8. and W. Europe, including England and §. Scotland. A rare casual in Aberdeen. ‘On the Inch; rare” (Fl. Ab.), probably from ballast. Once found by me, in 1903, on a newly formed slope, made up of town-refuse chiefly, by the road on the coast north of the Bathing Station. B. vulgaris, L. Common or Garden Beet. Not uncommon on town-refuse. Native of sea-shores of Europe; long in cultiva- tion, and widely dispersed as an outcast or casual; but soon dis- appearing. Occasionally on the Links and elsewhere on refuse around Aberdeen. Atriplex littoralis, L. Grass-leaved Sea Orache. A rare casual in Aberdeen; but native of salt-marshes over much of the N. Temperate zone, including Southern Britain. FLORA OF ABERDEEN 251 ‘Formerly on the Inch, opposite the dockyards ; introduced in ballast” (Fl. Ab.). ‘Estuary of the Dee, Dr. Macgillivray”’ (PME) Only once found by myself in Aberdeen, in 1904, on a rubbish- heap beside the road on the sandhills, north of the Bathing Station. A. patula, Under this name are included in the published local lists more than true A. patula, L., the former records for Aberdeen being as follows: ‘In cultis” (Skene). ‘‘ Fields and wastes, frequent, but less so in the more inland parts”’ (B. G.). The forms here included are common as apparently native plants in many places on the coast, and are even more plentiful as colonists around dung-stances, in cultivated soil, and elsewhere in soils rich in certain materials that favour their growth. Under A. patula were included formerly in our lists the follow- ing :— A, patula, L. Narrow-leaved Orache, with varieties erecta, Huds. and angustifolia (Sm.). A. hastata, L. Triangular-leaved Orache. Adt. Ps. Both species occur in all the adjacent parishes. A. Babingtonii, Woods, Spreading-fruited Orache. Native ; on coasts. ‘‘Frequentissima ad maris littora”’ (Skene, under A. patula). “Along the coast; not unfrequent’’ (Knight, as A. laciniata). ‘‘Sea-shore, frequent, and perhaps along the whole coast-line”’ (BeG.): It is very common on both sandy and rocky coasts. Var. virescens, Lange, is common with the type. Adt. Ps. Ng B:::: 0. Both type and variety, common along sea-coast. A. laciniata, L. Frosted Sea Orache. Only a casual near Aberdeen ; but native on sea-coast both south and north of this vicinity. Published records of A. laciniata for the neighbourhood of Aberdeen refer to A. Babingtonit, which was mistaken for it. In 1905 I found an example of A. laciniata on the sandy beach east of the Broadhill; and in 1906 a few plants grew on town-refuse spread on Old Aberdeen Links to form the new football ground near Linksfield. 252 J. W. H. TRAIL It has not as yet been observed in the adjacent parishes on the - sea-coast; yet it is common on sandy beaches along the south coast of the Moray Firth, and is also met with in Forfarshire. Spinacia oleracea, L. Possibly native in Afghanistan ; widely dispersed as a pot-herb, cultivated in gardens; apt to appear as a casual on town-refuse and other rubbish, e.g., on Old Aberdeen Links. Salicornia herbacea, ZL. Jointed Glasswort. Native on muddy shores of estuaries; but long extinct near Aberdeen. “Saltish pools near Donmouth” (Knight). ‘ Near the mouth of Don” (Harvey). As these are the only local records, the species had probably been rare near the Don, and had ceased to exist there before 1830; otherwise it would certainly have been mentioned by others. As Salicornia herbacea and Suaeda maritima, Dumort., are abundant in the estuaries of the South Esk and North Esk, and are also fairly common in a part of the estuary of the Ythan, the rarity of the one and the absence of the other around Aberdeen are rather diffi- cult to account for, as the former conditions in the estuaries of both the Dee and the Don appeared quite as favourable to them as where they grow. Salsola Kali, 2. Saltwort. Native on sandy (less often on pebbly) sea-coasts ; becoming less frequent near Aberdeen. “In no great plenty in the loose sands opposite to the Roperie, August 1, 1763” (Skene). ‘On the sea-coast between Dee and Don” (Cow). ‘‘ Occasionally from Aberdeen to Donmouth” (B. G.). It may still be found on this coast; but in recent years it has become rare between the Dee and the Don. Adt. Ps. Ng ::::: 0. Only once found by me in Nigg, in October, 1907, near the South Breakwater. It is not common north of the Don, at least for several miles distance. Var. Tragus, L. Russian Thistle. Of this very marked form, by some regarded as a distinct species, I found a single example on the rubbish used to fill up the old bed of the Dee near the Railway Station. The seed had probably been thrown out among grain-siftings, possibly from §.E. Europe, or possibly from N. America, where it has become a pest of cultivated fields. FLORA OF ABERDEEN 253 POLYGONACEZ:. Polygonum Convolwulus, L. Climbing Buck-wheat, or Black Bindweed. A plentiful colonist in Scotland, in fields; less frequent in garden and on waste ground. Native in Asia and in parts of Europe, perhaps including England ; widely dispersed as a weed of cultivation. Not mentioned by Skene. ‘In corn-fields and waste places, common ” (Knight, Cow, Dickie, and P. M.). Common near Aberdeen; often a rather troublesome weed from its habit of twining round other plants. Var. subalatwm, Lap et Court, is not uncommon about Aberdeen. Adt. Ps. In all; common. P, aviculare, LZ. Common Knot-grass. Native on dry pastures and in similar places where the vegetation is scanty ; but much more abundant and vigorous as a weed of agricultural ground and gardens, or on town-refuse and other rubbish where is rich nourishment. Extremely variable in such places, some of the varieties having probably been introduced among agricultural seeds. ‘“‘Ubique in incultis ” (Skene). Far too general and plentiful to require further citation of re- cords or of localities. The following forms have been found by me near Aberdeen :— agrestinum (Jord.), vulgatum, Syme, arenastrum (Bor.) on light soils, and littorale (Link) on the sea-coast, especially where sandy. This variety is certainly native here, and is more common on other parts of the coast. Adt. Ps. In all; common, often abundant. P. Bellardi, All. Native in 8. Europe. In September, 1917, I found a large plant in flower and fruit on town-refuse in the district of Ferryhill- P. equisetiforme, Sibth. Native in §.E. Europe and the Mediterranean region. In recent years a not infrequent casual on town-refuse in Aberdeen parish, probably from seeds imported among cereals. It was first observed here by me in 18938, on the old bed of the Dee; but I have since found it on Old Aberdeen Links and else- where, always on rubbish. 254 J. W. H. TRATL P. Hydropiper, ZL. Biting Persicary, or Water Pepper. Native in wet places, but very local near Aberdeen; now extinct within the parish, so far as my information goes. “Tn locis humidis” (Skene). ‘‘ Dam of Gileomston”’ (Knight and Harvey). ‘Den of Rubislaw; very abundant at Justice-mill Dam, which being now filled up the plant is extirpated” (Fl. Ab. and B. G.). I have a note of having found one or two plants in September, 1879, on the wet north part of Old Aberdeen Links; but I had not again seen it within our limits until 1908, when I found one or two, evident casuals, on town-refuse deposited near East Seaton. In 1914 several plants were growine by the Dee above Allenvale. Adt. Ps. Ng BM P:: 0. Very local; but abundant in a few places, e.g., in the upper dar in Den of Leggat. In September, 1916, I found a number of plants on the island in the Don above the New Bridge. P, minus, Huds. Small Persicary. Native in wet places ; extremely local in N.E. Scotland, though plentiful in the one or two places in which it occurs. ‘“‘Gilcomston Dam” (Knight). There is no other record for its occurrence within Aberdeen ; nor is it included in any published flora of this district. Adt. Ps. Ng::::::. Plentiful on the margins of the Loch of Loirston (where it was first observed by me in 1891), and around a pool east of the loch. It grows intermingled with P. Persicaria ; and hybrids between the two are frequent there. P. Persicaria, L. Spotted Persicary. Probably native in a few places on wet ground, e.g., round the Loch of Loirston; but much more plentiful and general as a colonist in cultivated soils, round manure heaps, and in similar rich soils. “ Passim in arvis, vlis’’ (Skene). Too common a weed of cultivation to require citation of records or of localities. Adt. Ps. In all; abundant as a weed in fields and gardens. P. lapathifolium, L. Pale-flowered Persicary. A not common weed of fields and gardens (colonist) and on waste ground ; occasionally, but rarely on the sides of ponds and ditches, where it may perhaps be native in this part of Scotland. ‘West end of the nursery at the Links, on a dunghill, 1835’” FLORA OF ABERDEEN 255 (Dickie hb.). ‘‘ Dam of Gilcomston, rare” (Cow). ‘On the Inch” (Fl. Ab.). More frequent in Aberdeen as a casual on refuse than as a colonist, though an occasional weed in most fields and on waste ground. Adt. Ps. Ng: MP Nh DO. Not common; prefers damp soils. Var. tomentosum, Schrank. With the type, and as frequent in some localities, especially on the’damper soils ; but more local; more often in the valley of the Dee than elsewhere in this neighbourhood. I have seen it within Aberdeen parish, on refuse on Old Aberdeen Links, P, amphibium, Z. Amphibious Bistort. Native; more often in damp or wet soils or floating in water; but not uncommon in dryer ground. ‘In fossis, in aqua, et ad ripas’’ (Skene). ‘‘ Canal below bridge in King Street, Firhill well, abundantly” (Beattie). ‘On the Canal banks near Footdee; in the Milldam of Gilcomston ; on wet pastures, west side of the Links, north of the Broadhill ; side of a marsh south from Donmouth” (Cow). “ Abundant in the Canal’’ (Fl. Ab.). The water form (aquaticum) no longer exists in any of these habitats, as all have been drained, and it has become rare locally ; but the land form (terrestre), though rather local, is still fairly plentiful in several places within Aberdeen, e.g., by roadsides be- tween Merkland Road and the Don, near Tillydrone, etc. The land form shows both hairy and almost glabrous varieties near Aberdeen. Adt. Ps. In all; locally common, especially as the land form. P, Bistorta, L. Common Bistort, or Snake-root.. A denizen in Aberdeen, plentiful in a few favourable habitats ; native in N. Hurope, probably including 8. Scotland; often cultivated in gardens formerly, and readily distributed from them, establishing itself as a denizen. ‘‘ Aberdeen Links’ (Beattie). ‘Old Aberdeen” (Knight). ‘‘Side of a small pond east from Powis Hermitage ; in the Den of Rubislaw”’ (Cow). ‘In a wood near Powis” (Fl. Ab.). It has disappeared from several of these localities, e.g., Old Aberdeen Links; but it is still plentiful in the Den of Rubislaw. It is also abundant by the north avenue in the grounds of Seaton ; 256 J WEE RAG and there are small patches in several places, e.g., by the railway near Holburn Street, near the Rubislaw Bleaching Works, ete. Adt. Ps. In all; a local denizen, occasionally plentiful. P. viviparum, LZ. Viviparous Bistort, or Alpine Bistort. Native in this district, though not common close to ee in drier natural pastures usually. In October, 1907, I found a few plants on the rough bank of the Dee east of Torry. Adt. Ps. Ng:: P:::. Plentiful on braes near the Dee, above the Burn of Culter. Probably it grows in almost every part of Deeside. P. cuspidatum, Sieb. et Zucc. Native in Japan ; cultivated in many gardens about Aberdeen, and often appearing as an outcast on waste ground. It appears not unlikely to establish itself as a denizen in suitable habitats by streams and in thickets. I have seen it partially established on waste ground near the Railway Station, on rubbish in Ferryhill and near Tillydrone, and on sites of former gardens in Rubislaw. I have also seen it, still more like a wild plant, in different places in the district around Aberdeen. Fagopyrum esculentum, Moench. Common Buckwheat. Native in Central Asia; very widely dispersed as a cultivated plant, and also as a weed among other crops, e.g., tares. In Aberdeen a casual on town-refuse; less often as a weed among tares, cereals, etc. On the old bed of the Dee, on Old Aberdeen Links, near Old Aberdeen, etc. Adt, Ps. :::: : : O:- A rare casual: F. tataricum, Gaertn. Tartarian Buckwheat. Native in Central and N. Asia, but widely dispersed as a weed of cultivation. Casual in Aberdeen. Two or three plants were found by me on Old Aberdeen Links, in 1903, on town refuse, probably from grain-siftings. Oxyria digyna, Hill. Mountain Sorrel. Native by the Dee; plentiful inland, and growing on shingles and rocky banks from seeds brought by the river, but much rarer near the mouth of the Dee. Very rare on shingles below the Bridge of Ruthrieston. Adt. Ps.: BM P:::. Only by the Dee. FLORA OF ABERDEEN 257 Rumex conglomeratus, Murray. Sharp-leaved Dock. Native in Scotland. “Moist places. I believe this to be frequent in the district” (B. G.). “Several places near Aberdeen, Mr. J. Farquharson” (Nat. Hist. of Deeside). Possibly these records refer to &. acutus, mentioned below. i. conglomeratus is one of the rarest docks in this vicinity; and I have seen it in Aberdeen only on town refuse, once by the new road from School Road to the Links in 1914, and once near Pittodrie in 1916. R. sanguineus, L. Bloody-veined Dock. Native in Scot- Jand. ‘Old wall at King’s College, rare” (Knight). “On the Inch” (Fl. Ab.; not mentioned in B. G.). I have not seen this nearer Aberdeen than Garlogie Mill, in Skene ; nor have I seen a local specimen in any herbarium. Cow’s judgment with regard to the species of Rumex cannot be trusted ; and the habitat on the Inches appears not to have satisfied Dickie. Its occurrence in Old Aberdeen was probably casual only. Further confirmation of its existence within the parish is required before it can be admitted into our flora. Both the type and var. viridis (Sibth.) grow in Dunottar parish, near the Carron, near the old castle of Tolquhon in Udny, and in other localities in the counties of Aberdeen and Kincardine as native plants. R. maritumus, L. Golden Dock. Native in marshes and on muddy river banks in the greater part of Europe, including S. England. Casual about Aberdeen. “Near Donmouth” (Knight). ‘‘ Banks of the Don near the sea. Rare” (Fl. Ab.); not mentioned in B. G., hence probably a misnomer. Once found by me on town-refuse, on Old Aberdeen Links, in 1905 ; and once by Mr. John Reay at Craiginches in Nigg, in 1906. The hybrid (limosus, Thuill.), with KR. conglomeratus, was once found by me as a casual on the old bed of the Dee, near the rail- way, in 1896. f. pulcher, L. Fiddle Dock. Scarcely more than a casual in Aberdeen. Native in Asia, and probably in Europe; widely dis- persed as a weed along roads and on waste ground, and to a less extent in fields. 258 J. W. H. TRAIL ‘“‘On a wall in College Lane” (Cow). ‘‘ Walls opposite King’s College, 1839” (Dickie hb.). I find it occasionally on town-refuse and waste ground, e.g., on the old bed of the Dee, in 1900, and on Old Aberdeen Links, from 1903 onwards. R. obtusifolius, Z. Blunt-leaved Dock. Native, usually preferring moist pastures; but more common as a weed of waste places near houses, by roads, ete. ‘“‘Passim ad vias et aggeres et in pascuis” (Skene, probably including more than the one species under the name). Too general to require citation of records or localities. Two varieties grow here :-— Var. Friesii (Gr. et Godr.), the more common, varying much in the degrees of toothing of the fruiting sepals, and Var. sylvestris (Wallr.), more local and less plentiful. Adt. Ps. In all; common. R. crispus, £. Curled Dock. Native; often associated with the other docks as roadside weeds. “On waysides and waste places, abundant’ (Cow). Very general. On the sea-coast it is the most common dock, usually as the variety trigranulatus, Syme. Var. subcordatus, (Warren), occasionally occurs here. Adt. Ps. In all; frequent. R. domesticus, Hartm. (R. aquaticus, auct. angl., non L.). Grainless Water Dock. Native by sides of streams and in wet pastures; but still more plentiful as a weed of waste ground near houses and roads, and as a weed of cultivated soils. “ Rather plentiful about Robslaw Quarry, ete.” (B. G.). Too general to require citation of localities. Adt. Ps. In all; plentiful. Hybrids between Rf. crispus, R. domesticus, and FR. obtusifolius. Where two of these species, or all three, grow intermingled, as they frequently do around Aberdeen, hybrids very frequently appear, showing different grades of resemblance to one or other of the species, often being hard to determine with certainty. Where the three species grow together there is the greatest difficulty with the hybrids. Hybrid origin is indicated frequently by greater height than the parents, intermediate form, toothing and granulation of FLORA OF ABERDEEN 259 the inner sepals in fruit, and the more open condition of the fruit- ing panicles, owing to many of the fruits falling off without ripen- ing. I have found the following hybrids in and around Aberdeen, besides others less clearly defined, and which are probably the produce of hybrids crossed with the species :— domesticus x obtusifolius, first noted from Scotland by Dr. J. Boswell Syme as #. conspersus, Hartm. This is common in N.E. Scotland. crispus x obtusifolius (R. acutus, L., R. pratensis, E.B.S.). This also is fairly common around Aberdeen, and is probably the dock intended in the records under &. conglomeratus, already quoted, as well as under the name acutws by Knight, who says it is “common” and by Cow, ‘on a waste place north side of King’s College; on a waste place at Union Place.” crispus x domesticus (R. propimquus, Aresch.). This is the least frequent of the three hybrids; and it approaches certain varieties of R. crispws. I have met with the undoubted hybrid in Aberdeen but not often. Adt.Ps. Ng:: PNhDO. Usually rare; but not uncommon by a field near Stoneywood. R. Acetosa, Z. Common Sorrel, or ‘Sourocks.” Native; abundant in pastures, on waste ground, by roads, and in cultivated soil, at times as a troublesome weed. Adt. Ps. In all; frequent. R. Acetosella, Z. Lesser or Sheep’s Sorrel. Native; especially abundant in light poor or acid soils, in which it spreads rapidly by buds, emitted from the true roots; often a very trouble- some weed. Adt. Ps. In all; abundant. Var. multifidus, L. Native in §.K. Europe. Casual in Aberdeen. Of this variety, characterised by the leaf bearing several lobes behind, instead of having the usual hastate form, I found a vigorous example on town-refuse on Old Aberdeen Links, in 1904. It may perhaps have sprung from a seed brought among cereals from the Mediterranean. 260 J. W. H. TRAIL R. bucephalophorus, L. Casual. Native in the Mediter- ranean region; on waste ground, or as a weed on cultivated soil. Several examples of this small annual weed were found by me, in 1903, on a slope north-east of the Broadhill, newly sown with grass. The seeds may have been introduced with the grass-seeds, or with the town-refuse used to make the slope. EUPHORBIACE/:. Euphorbia Helioscopia, L. Sun Spurge. Colonist in and around Aberdeen, often plentiful asa weed inarable ground. Native country uncertain as it is now known only as a weed of cultivation ; but its seeds have been identified in interglacial deposits in England. “In cultis” (Skene). ‘ Rubislaw, 1834” (Dickie hb.). ‘Ina field west of the Old-town; in fields at North-head braes; about the Gallow-hill, ete.” (Cow). Less frequent in gardens than in fields. Adt. Ps. In all; frequent in corn-fields and among root-crops. E. Peplus, L. Petty Spurge. Colonist as a weed, local, but plentiful in some gardens, less often in arable ground or among root-crops. Native country uncertain; but widely dispersed as a weed of cultivated ground. “In cultis’”’ (Skene). ‘‘On waste places and in gardens, not common ; at Gordon’s Hospital ; in fields above Gilcomston, rare” (Cow). In Old Aberdeen, Rubislaw, Ferryhill, etc.; abundant in some gardens; but less frequent and general than H. Helioscopia near Aberdeen. Adt. Ps. : : M P Nh: (O). Local and seldom common. E. Cyparissias, L. Cypress Spurge. Alien in Scotland. Native in Europe including England, near Dover. “In the Den of Rubislaw; very rare about Aberdeen’’ (Cow). There is no other local record for this Spurge, which is oc- casionally to be seen in old gardens in this district. If rightly named, the plant found by Cow must have been an outcast, or pos- sibly planted. Mercurialis perennis, Z. Perennial Dog’s-mercury. Native, usually under the shade of trees. My only record for this species within Aberdeen is the result of a special search in 1903, to ascertain whether it had become lost to FLORA OF ABERDEEN 261 the local flora, in which it had formerly been as common in the suitable habitats as it still is, in a few places in most of the ad- jacent parishes. The only examples met with were a few on the rough bank of the Don in Seaton, a little way above the Old Bridge, and by the Don near the Paper Works at Woodside. Adt. Ps. : BM PNh(D) O. Plentiful on the north bank of the Don above the Old Bridge; and also in places to the west of the parish. Buxus sempervirens, L. Common Box. Alien in Scotland; but largely grown in gardens and shrubberies. Native in the Medi- terranean region and in Central Europe, including 8. England. Occasionally in Aberdeen and neighbouring parishes, apparently wild, on waste ground, near old buildings, etc.; but almost always as a relic of former cultivation. URTICACEZ. Urtica dioica, L. Common or Great Nettle. So commonly dispersed in the Temperate Zones by man’s aid that its native country is uncertain. “Ad vias et ubique”’ (Skene). Too plentiful near houses, by roads, on waste ground, etc., to require records or localities; but its distribution in the N.H. of Scotland is such as to suggest that it is a successful denizen, intro- duced by man long ago, accidentally, or as a useful potherb and source of fibre, properties for which it was esteemed formerly, though now superseded by other plants. Adt. Ps. In all; plentiful. U. urens, L. Small or Annual Nettle. Colonist near Aber- deen. Widely dispersed as a weed of cultivation, its native country uncertain. ‘“‘Ubique in ruderatis” (Skene). ‘On waste places, and dung- hills, common at Torry and the fish-town of Footdee; on waste places about the flesh-market, and at the Bridge of Dee, etc.” (Cow). ‘Old Aberdeen, etc.” (Knight). Plentiful in several parts of Aberdeen, though local near houses and roads, by borders of fields under annual crops, ete. Adt. Ps. Ng B: P Nh DO. Decidedly local; common in places. 262 J. W. H. TRAIL [Parietaria ramifiora, Moench. (P. officinalis, Z., in part). Wall Pellitory.] Native in Europe, including 8. Britain; but only a denizen in N. Scotland, on old buildings, chiefly on ruins. Not recorded from Aberdeen, the nearest locality being garden wall, ‘‘ Pitfodels ;” a note by Prof. Beattie, but not of any later botanist, CANNABINACEZ., Humulus Lupulus, L. Common Hop. Occasionally in hedges, and less often in thickets in the district around Aberdeen, the result of former cultivation or as an escape. Native of great part of Kurope, Asia, and N. Africa; and dispersed also by cultivation. “ Stocket’”’ (Beattie). Not frequent in Aberdeen, though it grows as a rare denizen by the Don, and may be seen asa relict of cultivation where gardens have been abandoned before the extension of streets, e.g., in Rubislaw. ; Adt. Ps. : B(M) PNh: O. Alien; but well established here and there. Cannabis sativa, L. Hemp. Casual; frequent on town-refuse, and occasionally near houses or by roads. Native in Central Asia ; diffused by cultivation over the Temperate and Warm Zones. Tt is one of the casuals most often met with near Aberdeen ; but it seldom reappears in the same place unless from seeds newly thrown out, as it does not ripen seeds here. Its frequency is prob- ably due in great part to the use of the fruits as food of caged birds. It occasionally may be found as a weed among tares and other crops. Adt. Ps. Occasionally, but less common than around Aberdeen. ULMACEZ. Ulmus glabra, Huds. (U. montana, Sm.). Scotch Elm or Wych Elm. Common, and apparently native around Aberdeen ; but may be a denizen. Native in Europe, including Southern Britain and Asia. Often planted, and readily dispersed by the winged fruits, springing up in places where it appears to be wild. Frequent in Rubislaw, near Hilton, by the Don, and elsewhere about Aberdeen, it is usually in hedges and plantations or shrub- beries, where trees had evidently been planted. If not native here it has been long a denizen. Adt. Ps. In all; frequent. FLORA OF ABERDEEN 263 U. campestris, L. Common Elm. Alien; native in great part of Europe and in Asia. It is less frequent about Aberdeen than the Scotch Elm, and is less often seen where it had probably been self-sown. MYRICACE. Myrica Gale, Z. Bog Myrtle, or Sweet Gale. Native in the surrounding country, in abundance in many places, and probably was so on the swampy moors that covered so much of the parish formerly ; but I have not been able to find it in any old collection, while the only reference to it here is by Cow, who says of it: “In a meadow east and west the Snow Churchyard, abundant.” The only ‘‘ Snow Church” in this neighbourhood, so far as I am aware, is that which formerly stood in Old Aberdeen; so that Cow appears to refer to the low stretch of ground near the Powis Burn, west of College Bounds. This seems very likely to have been a suitable habitat in former times; but in view of the silence of Skene, Knight, Harvey, and Dickie as to its occurrence near Old Aberdeen, there is reason to believe that Cow’s statement was erroneous. Certainly the shrub could not have been “abundant ”’ there in 1836, when his list was printed. Adt. Ps. (Ng): MP Nh (D)O. Very local; more plentiful inland. BETULACEA, Betula alba, Z. Common.Birch. Birches have left abundant remains in the peat-mosses that exist below the streets and build- ings in many parts of Aberdeen, e.g., below part of the central buildings of Marischal College and below West North Street and John Street. It is, however, impossible to determine from the pieces of bark or other fragments to which form or forms of the ag- gregate included under B. alba these had belonged; but as both B. verrucosa, Khrh. and B. pubescens, Ehrh. are certainly native in the vicinity of Aberdeen, it is probable that both grew in Aberdeen formerly. They both grow here still; but it is not possible to de- termine with certainty whether the trees now existing in the parish are descended from those native or only from those planted by man. Adt. Ps. Both forms occur in all, probably in part as natives, and in part planted, or sprung from seeds of planted trees. Alnus glutinosa, ZL. Common Alder, locally “Arn.” Native by streams and in swamps. 264 J. W. H. TRAIL “Den of Rubislaw ” (Cow). ‘‘ Rarely wild in the lower parts” (BaG:): Though now become rare in the truly wild state around Aber- deen, this appears to be due to the drainage of the soil. Its re- mains are met with in the peat, e.g., below Marischal College, where a large block was dug up in making a drain in 1906. Though sometimes planted by streams and ponds; it is probable that these existing by the Don, by the Burn of Rubislaw and in a few other places in Aberdeen are of native origin. Adt. Ps. In all; common, and in many places undoubtedly native. CUPULIFERZ. Carpinus Betulus, L. Hornbeam. Alien; near Aberdeen the trees are probably not self-sown in any locality, though the fruits appear to be fully formed in some years. Native in W. Asia and Central Europe, including England. Trees of fair size, and of considerable age, exist in various parts of Aberdeen, e.g., in Seaton. é Adt. Ps. :: MPNh::. Not common, and probably only where planted. Corylus Avellana, Z. Common Hazel. Native on rough banks and in thickets. ‘““On Donside above the Bridge” (Cow). Possibly Cow’s record applies only to the north bank; I have not seen the Hazel in Seaton. The only plant apparently wild that I have seen within the parish grows on a wooded bank by the rivulet that flows into Walker’s Dam. It was, no doubt, common formerly in the small valleys near the streams, as it is still in similar places throughout much of the adjoining district. Adt. Ps. : BM P Nh DO. Common, though restricted to suitable habitats. The nuts are often plentiful in the peat. Quercus Robur, L. Common Oak. Alien as regards the oaks existing in and around Aberdeen ; but native in Scotland, including the counties around Aberdeen, e.g., in the valley of the Dee, and on the coast at Muchalls, where it is reduced to a small shrub. Trunks of large size are sometimes found in peat-bogs. One dredged from the former estuary of the Dee, about 1832, stood for many years on the Inches, and suffered considerable damage from fire at one time, during the burning of a neighbouring woodyard. FLORA OF ABERDEEN 265 In 1887 what remained of it was conveyed to the Duthie Park, where it still forms an interesting proof of the size to which oaks attained in the prehistoric period. Though the trees flower freely I have never seen ripe acorns in this part of Scotland, an indication that the tree must have reached its present distribution in Scotland under more favourable climatic conditions than now prevail. Var. pedunculata (Ehrh.), is the more common form in and near Aberdeen, as it appears to be throughout this district of Scotland. Var. sessiliflora (Salisb.). One or two trees grow by the Don in the grounds of Seaton, but it is not frequent in this district ; and I have not seen it in N.E. Scotland in a certainly wild state. Adt. Ps. In all; probably planted in most (if not in all) localities. Fagus sylvatica, L. Common Beech. Denizen; long cultivated in Scotland, and freely self-sown. Native in S.W. Asia and in EKurope, perhaps including England. This is one of the most plentiful trees of the lower levels, so readily self-sown and so fertile that it looks native in many places. Adt. Ps. In all; common. Castanea sativa, L. Sweet Chestnut. Not uncommon in and around Aberdeen; but only where planted, and apparently not able to ripen fruit. Native in the warmer parts of the N. Tem- perate Zone, and widely dispersed by cultivation. It grew in England in prehistoric times, and was probably native there. Adt. Ps. : : MPNh::. Where planted, growing to be fine trees. SALICACEZ. Salia triandra, L. Almond-leaved Willow. “Tn a wet meadow south from Ferryhill’? (Cow). Cow’s authority for a group like the Willows is very doubtful. If cor- rectly named, this species has disappeared from Ferryhill. Adt. Ps. :B:P:::. Rather common by the Burn of Culter, near Culter; but probably not native. Its claim to be native in Scotland is doubtful. S. peniandra, L. Bay-leaved Willow. Apparently native a few miles from Aberdeen ; but probably a denizen only within the parish. T 8 266 J. W. H. TRAIL “Near Angusfield” (Fl. Ab.). “Gordon’s Mills, 1845” (Polson hb.). ‘Seldom wild in the lower, generally so in some of the inland parts of the district” (B. G.). This willow still grows by the burn at Angusfield, and by the Don between Gordon’s Mills and Tillydrone, probably as a denizen only. Adt.Ps.: BM PNhDO. Local, not very common anywhere. S. fragilis, L. Crack Willow. Alien near Aberdeen. Native in Asia and Europe, including parts of Britain. “ Inter Salices viminales ad fossam prope the Links”’ (Skene). ‘In Angusburn ” (Cow). Rather frequent along streams, where it sometimes becomes a large tree, e.g., along Powis Burn, east of Old Aberdeen ; but it does not seem even to be self-sown from the planted trees. Adt. Ps. In all; frequently planted by streams and in wet soil. S. alba, L. White Willow. Alien. The same remarks apply to this as to S. fragilis. ‘‘Donside above the Printfield; Den of Rubislaw’’ (Cow). ‘“‘Canalside at Printfield, 1845 ” (Polson hb.). Often planted beside streams and on damp soil, e.g , at Lady- mill, by the Don, about Rubislaw, ete. Adt. Ps. : BM PNhDO. Frequent. S. cinerea, Z. Grey Sallow. Native; by streams and in damp soils. ‘“ Donside and Den of Rubislaw ”’ (Cow and B. G.). Not uncommon by the Don, near Hilton, in Rubislaw, Ruthrie- ston, and Ferryhill. Adt. Ps. In all; moderately common. S. aurita, Z. Hared Sallow. Native in similar places to S. cinerea. ‘ Donside at the Printfield, 1845” (Polson hb.). Rather frequent in suitable habitats, such as by the Don, about old quarries, and by roadside ditches near Hilton, in Rubislaw, etc. Adt. Ps. In all; common, more frequent than in Aberdeen. S. caprea, L. Goat Willow, or Great Round-leaved Sallow. Native, by streams and pools, less common than the other sallows. “Den of Rubislaw”’ (Cow). ‘ Rubislaw Quarry; Ferryhill” (Fl. Ab.). FLORA OF ABERDEEN 267 I have seen this in the old quarries at Rubislaw and in Ferry- hill, in habitats from which it has been uprooted or destroyed. It may still be met with near the Don ; but is rare within Aberdeen. Adt. Ps. :BMPNhDO. Local, but fairly common in a few places. S. repens, Z. Dwarf Silky Willow. Native; now rare in Aberdeen, though probably as common here formerly as it is, locally, in the neighbouring counties. T have seen this growing within the parish only by the side of a road west from Hilton, in small quantity. There is no mention of its occurrence within Aberdeen in any published or other record. Adt. Ps. In all; very common in some habitats, e.g., on Bal- gownie Links, and on the coast of Nigg. (S. ambigua, Hhrh.] a hybrid between S. awrita and S. repens, has been found in Peterculter and in Maryculter, growing near the parent species. S. nigricans, Sm. Dark-leaved Willow. Native in Scot- land. ‘In Pitmuxton Marsh” (Cow). Possibly the species found by Cow was S. phylicifolia ; but I have no other record of either for Aberdeen. S. nigricansis much the less likely to have occurred in the marsh as it does not, so far as known, grow in even the adjacent parishes. [S. phylicifolia, L.] Tea-leaved Willow. Native. Plentiful up the valley of the Dee, and extending along the river, through B M and P, to below Cults. S. nigricans and S. phylicifolia, approach very closely in some of their forms. S. viminalis, L. Common Osier. Alien; often planted to obtain twigs for plaiting into baskets ; and almost become a denizen in places. Native in a great part of Hurope and in Asia. “ Near Angusfield ”’ (Fl. Ab.). Frequent by streams. Adt. Ps. In all; planted by streams, or in wet soils, often in beds. It is peculiarly frequent near fishing villages, the twigs being used to make fish-creels. Hybrids between S. viminalis and the Sallows (S. caprea, S. cinerea, and S. awrita) are almost as frequently planted as S. vimi- nalis, and may often be seen by streams within Aberdeen and in its neighbourhood. One of these is recorded by Cow, under the 268 J. W. H. TRAIL name stipularis, from Angusburn and Rubislaw. S. Smuthiana, another of the hybrids, grows in College Bounds, in Old Aberdeen. S. purpurea, L. Purple Osier. Alien; almost become a denizen locally. . Native in Europe, including great part of Britain. ‘At Pitmuxton Marsh; in the Den of Rubislaw; and on the banks of Angusburn ”’ (Cow). I have found this occasionally near the Don, in the Woodside district, and about Rubislaw and Ruthrieston ; but it is not frequent near Aberdeen. The twigs are often swollen by the galls of a midge, Rabdophaga Salicis. dt 2s!) Noh Maran) 2: Populus tremula, Z. Aspen. Native in the near neighbour- hood of Aberdeen, though rare within the parish, and only where planted. It may have been native here also in the natural con- dition of the surface. Adt, Ps.: BM PNhHDO. Not frequent ; but native in several localities, e.g., Den of Maidencraig, near Grandholm, etc. Small examples grow in Hazlehead woods, very close to the boundary of Aberdeen ; they may not be native. Several species of Populus are often planted in and near Aber- deen ; and occasionally they may appear to be wild; or, rarely, self-sown examples may be met with. The most commonly planted species are the White Poplar (P. alba, L.), the Grey Poplar (P. canescens, Sm.), the Black Poplar (P. nigra, L.), and some of the American species. EMPETRACE&, Empetrum nigrum, Z. Crowberry. Native; widespread, and often abundant on moors and similar waste ground from the sea- level to tops of the higher mountains. Almost extinct within Aberdeen. ‘“‘ Passim in ericetis” (Skene). I have seen this on Stocket Moor ; but since the cultivation of the moor about 1880 it appears to have become extinct, or almost so, in Aberdeen north of the Dee. It still grows, in small quantity, on the rough south bank of the Dee east of Torry. It must have been plentiful on the moors that formerly covered so much of what is now within Aberdeen. Adt. Ps. In all; very common on moors, both inland and on the cliffs along the coast in Nigg and Banchory. FLORA OF ABERDEEN 269 CERATOPHYLLACEAZ., Ceratophyllum demersum, Z.? Common Hornwort. “Tn a small pond on Deeside, above the Braes of Pitfodels ; in streams about the Printfield; in ponds and ditches on the Links of Belhelvie, etc.” (Cow). As this species has not been observed by anyone else in this district, I can only conjecture that Cow mistook for it some other water plant, possibly some form of Ranunculus aquatilis. MONOCOTYLEDONES. HYDROCHARITACEA. Elodea canadensis, Michx. (Anacharis Alsinastrum, Bab.). ‘Water Thyme. Native in N. America; but become a denizen in ponds and streams in many localities in Scotland, including the N.E. district. : ‘‘Tntroduced into pools by the roadside west from Summerhill, near Aberdeen, and into the small lake on the Old Town Links” (B. G.). It appeared to have died out of the pool on the Links (now filled up) before 1869; but in that year it grew in plenty in a pool in the old quarries of Rubislaw and in the burn near Angusfield. In 1907 it was abundant in the ponds at the Bleaching Works of Rubislaw. The pool in the quarries has been filled with refuse, and the water has been:entirely run off from most of the ponds at the Works, so that these habitats of the Water Thyme no longer exist ; but it still grows in shallow water in two or three of the ponds, and also in the Burn. It grows in backwaters and quiet pools of the Dee above Cults; but I have never seen it below the Old Bridge of Dee; nor is there any record of its having been observed in the Don. Adt. Ps. Ng BMP:: 0. Only by the Dee and (observed for the first time in October, 1912) in the mill dam near the New Bridge of Don. It is abundant in suitable localities in a good many places in Buchan and elsewhere in the adjoining counties. ORCHIDACEZ. The preference of Orchids for marshes, heaths, woods, and natural pastures, and their intolerance of the effects of man’s inter- ference with their natural habitats, due apparently to association 270 J. W. H. TRAIL with certain types of fungi as a condition of their healthy develop- ment, have led to the extirpation within our limits of certain Species and to the almost certain disappearance of others in the near future, as they are already restricted to the remnants of moor and wood still left on the extreme western limit near Queen’s Road West. Ina few years the streets will probably have covered this ground, and the Orchids will have perished. Of six species that are native in adjacent parishes there is no record as having been observed in Aberdeen, although it is almost certain that they did so in the natural condition of the surface. [Corallorhiza trifida, Chat. (C. innata, R. Br.). Coral-root.] Native in swampy thickets, where it lives, with the aid of a fungus on decaying remains of plants. Adt. Ps. :::P:::. Extremely local; in one part of the Den of Murtle. The only other habitat known to me in this district is a Swampy place in a wood a little distance west of Kintore, where it was found some years ago by the late Dr. William Tait. Listera cordata, &. Br. Least Tway-blade. Native on heaths and in heathy woods, apt to be overlooked among the heather. ‘Above Den of Rubislaw” (Beattie). ‘‘ Stocket Moor, 1835”’ (Dickie hb.). ‘‘ Woods by the Skene Road west from Robslaw Quarry” (B. G.). Only a few plants still survive in the woods beside Queen’s Road West. This Tway-blade must have been rather frequent in Aberdeen formerly. Adt. Ps. In all; requiring to be sought for; but not rare. [L. ovata, R. Br. Common Tway-blade.] Native. In damp pastures, extremely local in this district. There is no record of its occurrence in Aberdeen. Adt. Ps. : (B) (M) : (Nh): O. I have seen it near Aberdeen only on a small patch of the N.W. corner of Scotston Moor, where it was discovered in 1906 by Mr. William Thomson. It grows in several places in the counties near Aberdeen. In a marsh west of Huntly I found it of large size and in the utmost plenty in August, 1905. Goodyera repens, &. Br. Creeping Goodyera. Native in fir woods, rarely extending its range to open moors. “A solitary specimen in Ewing’s Hermitage” Berryden FLORA OF ABERDEEN 271 (Beattie). “Hilton” (Knight). “By the Skene Road west from Robslaw Quarry” (B. G.). Now restricted in Aberdeen to the planted woods near Queen’s Road West; but probably not uncommon formerly in the natural woods. Adt. Ps. In all; very common in many fir woods. When new plantations of firs are made the Goodyera appears after a good many years, probably from seeds carried by the wind, the young plants of orchids requiring a considerable time to reach the mature state. [Orchis mascula, Z. larly Purple Orchis.] Native; in woods, and on coast very local. There is no record of the species for Aberdeen ; but in view of its occurrence by the Don it is probable that it grew within the parish formerly. Adt. Ps. : B(M) (P):: O. Locally common on coast, on moist braes, from Portlethen southwards. A few grow on the wooded north bank of the Don above the Old Bridge; but it has become very scarce there. O. latifolia, Z. Marsh Orchis. Under this name in the older records, including all that relate to the local lists of Aberdeen, two are included, now generally treated as distinct species. These will be referred to separately below, after quotation of the records. Both are native in Scotland, though one is the more general and common. ‘ Vulgatissima in pratis et pascuis’’ (Skene). ‘ At Pitmuxton Marsh” (Cow). O. latifolia, Z., vera (O. maialis, Reich.). This is the only form that I have seen within Aberdeen, and of which there is positive record. It was common on Stocket Moor; but since the cultivation of the moor the Orchis seems to have disappeared from the parish north of the Dee. A few still linger on wet spots of the rough south bank of the river east of Torry. It must have been plentiful in marshy ground within Aberdeen formerly. Adt. Ps. In all; plentiful in many marshes. [O. incarnata, L.] Possibly the older records of O. latifolia cover this also; but it appears to be very scarce in the district around Aberdeen ; and there is no record of its having been observed 272 J. W. H. TRAIL within the parish. It is often not easy to distinguish from O. latifolia. Adt. Ps.:::::: (O). Rare. Though local, it is not un- common in a few localities in the adjoining counties, in marshy ground. O. maculata, Z. Spotted Orchis. Native; usually on drier heaths and pastures, though sometimes in wetter places, where it may grow intermixed with O. latifolia, with which it occasionally hybridises. ‘““Passim in pratis, etiam humidioribus” (Skene). ‘ Natural pastures and heaths, very frequent in all parts of the district”’ (B. G:). This must formerly have been very common in Aberdeen; but it is now almost restricted to the remains of woods west of Rubis- law and to the braes on the south bank of the Dee east of Torry. Its flowers show great diversity in colour and markings of the lower lip. Of these forms one meets with var. ericetorum, Linton, though not so commonly as with the type. Adt. Ps. Ng BM P Nh: O. Plentiful in suitable localities, var. ericetorum occurring with the type, though less frequently. O. morio, Cow, non L. ‘‘ Wood at Culter; on Donside above the bridge, abundant ’’ (Cow). This record is certainly erroneous, as the species does not grow near Aberdeen ; it may be due to a mistaken identification of O. mascula. Habenaria Conopsea, Benth. Fragrant Orchis. Native on drier moors and in natural pastures ; common locally. “In pratis et pascuis” (Skene). ‘“ Boggy ground above Rubis- law” (Beattie). ‘‘Stocket Moor, 1833” (Dickie hb.). I have gathered it, between 1870 and 1879, on Stocket Moor; but with the cultivation of the moor it seems to have become extinct in Aberdeen, where it must have formerly been as common as it still is on moors not far distant. Adt. Ps. In all local, but common in suitable habitats. [H. albida, &. Br. Small White Orchis.] Very local; but common in short dry pastures and on grassy heaths in a few places. There is no record of it in Aberdeen, though it may well have occurred. Adt. Ps. (Ng): M P (Nh)::. ‘Corbie Den” (Beattie). It still grows there. FLORA OF ABERDEEN 273 H. viridis, R. Br. Frog Orchis. Native; in short dry pastures, I have found a very few examples, the last in 1902, on short turf on the inner sand-dunes of the Links, near the mouth of the Don. Adt. Ps. : (B) M::: 0. Balgownie Links, very plentiful on short turf of the dunes and of the golf-course. [H. bifolia, &. Br. Lesser Butterfly Orchis.] Native; on damp moors and pastures. Though no record of this Orchis exists for Aberdeen, it probably was native here, as on various moors in the vicinity. Adt. Ps. : B:: Nh DO. Not uncommon in a few places. IRIDACEZE. Iris Pseudacorus, Z. Yellow Flag, or Yellow Water Iris. Native, by streams and in pools. “Tn udis, ad fluv. ripas” (Skene). ‘Canal, King’s Links, etc., frequent” (Knight). ‘On the West side of the Old Town Links”’ (N. Fl.). “Canal above Mount Hooly” (Dickie hb.). The Canal was dried, and became the track of the G.N.S. Rail- way about half a century ago; and changes in the Links, and in the burns flowing to the Don, led to the disappearance of the Iris from that quarter, many years since. Possibly extinct as a native in Aberdeen. Adt. Ps. : BMPNhD:. Local; scarcely common in the district. Tritonia Pottsti, Benth, et Hook. f. Adt. Ps. :::: Nh::. Established on rough bank of Don below Stoneywood. Crocus vernus, Ait. Common Spring Crocus. Casual, as out- cast or escape from cultivation. Native in Central and 8. Europe. In 1906 in a sandpit near Tillydrone. Not unfrequent in lawns or shrubberies, but nowhere as a denizen. AMARYLLIDACEZ-., Narcissus Pseudonarcissus, L. Common Daffodil. Alien; scarcely a denizen anywhere near Aberdeen. Native in great part of Europe, including England; widely dispersed by cultivation. “Tn the Den of Rubislaw”’ (Cow). 274 J. W. H. TRAIL Tt still grows in the Den, where it had probably been planted originally; and it is abundant on a wooded bank by the north avenue to Seaton House. Occasionally it springs up as a casual on rubbish heaps on waste ground; but it is rarely allowed to remain there for more than a season. The flower is usually double, thus showing the cultivated origin of these casuals. Adt. Ps. Occasionally, under similar conditions as to having been planted, or outcasts from some garden. Galanthus nivalis, L. Common Snowdrop. Alien in Scotland. Native in N. and Central Europe, including England. ‘Tn the Den of Rubislaw, plentiful” (Cow and FI. Ab.). A few may be seen in old pasture in the grounds of Seaton ; and occasionally it may be found in unexpected places; but in all cases either as intentionally introduced, or from bulbs thrown out from some garden originally. It can scarcely be regarded as a denizen - anywhere in the vicinity of Aberdeen. I have found it in a field near Linksfield, in rubbish on waste ground near King Street, etc. LILIACEZ, Polygonatum multiflorum, All. Solomon’s Seal. Alien in Scot- land ; but naturalised here and there. Native in HKurope, including England. “Not common in the Den of Rubislaw” (Cow). ‘In a field west of Chanonry House, Old Aberdeen, 1845” (Polson hb.). Ihave never seen this in Aberdeen except as an evident outcast, or in cultivation. . Adt. Ps. : 2 (M)(2):: : =. —Corbie, Pot’ (Beattie) Kang- causie”’ (Fl. Ab.). “Culter, 1842” (Beveridge hb.). Convallaria majalis, L. Lily-of-the-valley. Doubtfully native anywhere in Scotland, and certainly not so in Aberdeen; dispersed by cultivation or planting. ‘Not common in the Den of Rubislaw”’ (Cow). It can hold its place in suitable habitats in N.H. Scotland. Allium vineale, 2. Crow Garlic. Native; on rough banks; rare. “ Rubislaw ” (Knight). This species is plentiful on a part of the rough wooded bank of the Don above the Old Bridge, on the north side, and has been so for many years. In this shady situation it rarely flowers. On the FLORA OF ABERDEEN 275 south bank, in Seaton, within Aberdeen I have been able, even by close searching, to find only two or three plants. About twenty years ago a few appeared close to the Don a little above the Coast- guard Station; and in this more open place they grew vigorously, and produced abundance of bulbils, along with a few flowers. They multiplied rapidly ; and now form the greater part of the vegetation over many square yards of the bank along the river. It has in recent years become rather common on the north bank between the bridges, and along the south side of the island in the Don; early in June, 1912, I found it in some plenty, among the herbage liable to be flooded at high tides, on the south bank a little west of the mouth of the Tile Burn. I have never seen it in Rubislaw. Adt. Ps. :::::: 0. Along the Don, as described above. It is plentiful on dry banks in 8. Kincardineshire. A. Schoenoprasum, L. Chives. Alien in Scotland. Native in Temperate Zone, including England. “Tn the Den of Rubislaw” (Cow). No doubt a relict of some garden or outcast. A. ursinum, Z. Bear garlic or Ramsons. Native; in shaded dens usually; plentiful in a few localities. “6Den of Rubislaw, 1833 ”’ (Dickie hb.). Still common there, and by the Don in Seaton, not far above the Old Bridge. Adt. Ps. :: M::: 0. Plentiful on the north bank of the Don above the Old Bridge, where shaded by trees. Endymion non-scriptum, Garcke. Wild Hyacinth ; the ‘‘ Blue- bell” in England. Native on rough wooded banks; but local ; and sometimes planted, e.g., on a bank beside the north avenue to Seaton. “Side of a small stream at Foresterhill” (Cow). ‘Den of Rubislaw” (Fl. Ab.). “ Rubislaw and bank of Don” (Knight). It still grows in the Den and on the rough bank of the Don in Seaton, above the Old Bridge; but it is not common in Aber- deen. — Adt. Ps. :::(P) Nh: O. On the wooded N. bank of the Don. Ormithogalum wmbellatum, L. Common Star-of-Bethlehem. Alien; planted, outcast, or relict of cultivation. Native in 8. Europe; widely dispersed by cultivation. 276 J. W. H. TRAIL “Wood east of Seaton House, 1845” (Polson hb.). Adis.) PO Above Old Bridge, ol Don. 184217 (Beveridge hb.). In the wood on the steep bank of the Don near the gate of Balgownie Lodge this plant seems to be naturalised. I have also seen it apparently wild near Cults, originally from some garden. Narthecium ossifragum, Huds. Bog Asphodel. Native; in swampy places. ‘Passim in humidis et uliginosis” (Skene). ‘“ Rubislaw, Ferry- hill” (Beattie). ‘ Ferryhill Moss, etc., common” (Knight). I have seen this on Stocket Moor, before 1880; but it appears to be extinct in Aberdeen since the cultivation of that moor. It must have been plentiful on the swampy moors so widespread in Aberdeen formerly. Adt. Ps. In all; plentiful in suitable habitats. [Paris quadrifolia, LZ. Herb Paris.] Native in Scotland, in woods ; but very local, though plentiful where it grows. Adt.Ps. ::M : (Nh) ::. Corbie Den, Kingcausie ; recorded by Beattie, and still abundant in one part of the Den. ‘“ Woods of Craibstone ”’ (B. G.). JUNCACEZ. Juncus bufonius, 2. Toad Rush. Native; in wet soils. ‘“‘Passim in aquosis et humidis”’ (Skene). ‘‘ Rubislaw, Inches, and Old Town Links, 1835” (Dickie hb.). Still common in ditches and by pools, less often in damp fields and gardens, in the north and west parts of the parish; not com- mon on the Links. It had been much more common before drain- age of the surface. Adt. Ps. In all; abundant in suitable habitats. J. squarrosus, Z. Heath Rush. Native; on heaths and in natural pastures. ® Vulgatissima in ericetis et humidioribus” (Skene). “ Stocket Moor, 1834” (Dickie hb.). ‘“‘On the Links, north of Broadhill; head of Rubislaw Den” (Cow). This rush still grows on the lower parts of the Links between the Broadhill and the football ground near Hast Seaton, and also in the remains of woodland near Queen’s Road West; and an oc- casional plant may be found on waste ground about the old quarries FLORA OF ABERDEEN 277 near Rosehill, etc.; but it has become a scarce plant within Aber- deen, though formerly it must have been plentiful. Adt. Ps. In all; common and general. J. Gerardii, Zoisel. Gerard’s Rush. Native in salt-marshes, near the sea, usually where liable to be flooded at high tides. — “Old Town Links” (Knight, and Dickie hb., as J. compressus). ‘‘ Salt-marshes; on the banks of the Don near its mouth; on the Inches and Deeside” (Cow, as J. bulbosus). Though still frequent by the estuary of the Don and on the part of the Links liable to be flooded at high tides, its continuance is threatened by the changes that are likely to be carried out there in the not distant future. It is now rare by the Dee, owing to the alterations that have been made in the estuary of that river. Adt. Ps. Ng B:::: 0. Local; but plentiful in a few localities. J. tenuis, Willd. Slender Rush. Only a casual on rubbish in Aberdeen. Native in N. America, and probably so in W. Europe. Once found by me, in 1894, on the old bed of the Dee, near the Railway Station, and again, in October, 1909, on waste ground at Berryden. The only other occasions on which I have seen it, or know of its occurrence in this part of Scotland, were in 1902, when I found a few plants on a road over a small moor near Beltcraigs, in Banchory Ternan, about seventeen miles west of Aberdeen, and on 18 September, 1914, when I found several plants in a space of a few feet on the grassy border by the road from Persley Bridge to Grandholm House, a little beyond where the road bends north from the river near Mugiemoss. (J. balticus, Willd. Northern Rush.] Native in Scotland in damp soils, almost always near the coast; not known from Aberdeen. Adt. Ps. :::::: (O). Formerly in a small marsh near the sea on the Links north of the Don, about a mile from Donmouth. The rush had disappeared before 1870, when I first looked for it there ; and the marsh has been drained since the Balgownie golf- course was formed. J. balticus is extremely rare in this district. (J. filiformis, 2. Thread Rush.] Native; but confined to the shores of the Loch of Loirston, where it is rather common. It is very frequent in suitable habitats in N.W. Europe, from which 278 J. W. H. TRAIL the seeds may have been brought to the Loch of Loirston by some water bird. J. effusus, Z. Soft Rush. Native in moist pastures, and by streams and pools ; general and common in undrained soils. ‘Side of a small pond at Powis Hermitage” (Cow). Though much diminished in frequency by drainage of the soil in Aberdeen, it still grows in several parts of the parish. I have found here the forms elatws (in woods usually, where drawn up and weak) and compactus, resembling J. conglomeratus in the close- ness of the panicle. Adt. Ps. In all; general, and in many places, abundant. J. conglomeratus, Z. Common Rush. Native; in similar habitats with J. effusus, but usually less abundant in this district. ‘““Stocket Moor, 1835” (Dickie hb.). ‘‘On the Links north of Broadhill ; in the Den of Rubislaw; side of the quarries at Hilton, etc.’’ (Cow). Still grows in the few habitats left to it in Aberdeen, though not frequent. It had certainly been common here formerly. Adt. Ps. In all; general, and occasionally plentiful. J, bulbosus, Z. (J. swpinws, Moench). Lesser Bog Rush. Native in pools and on wet mud by streams and in ditches. ‘“‘Ubique in paludosis”’ (Skene). “ Stocket Moor, 1835” (Dickie hb.). ‘‘ Pitmuxton Marsh ” (Cow). This must formerly have been plentiful in Aberdeen; but it has become very scarce, owing to drainage of the surface. Adt. Ps. In all; abundant in suitable habitats; and varying greatly, the forms being often in relation to the depth of water in which it grows. The following have been observed by me in this district :— nodosus, Lange, common on wet mud, often with vivi- parous buds replacing the flowers. geniculatus, Asch. et Greb., differing from nodosus in the knee-like angles at nodes in the inflorescences. uliginosus, /’r., creeping on wet mud, rooting at the nodes, and flowering freely. fluitans, /., in water not too deep to allow the slender leaves and few-flowered inflorescences to rise from the stem into the air. FLORA OF ABERDEEN 279 Kochii, Syme, characterised by six stamens in the flower ; in pastures. J. articulatus, Z. (J. lampocarpus, Ehrh.). Shining-fruited Rush. Native in wet soils, often where the vegetation is rather poor and scanty. ‘Old Aberdeen Links, 1877’’ (Harvey hb.). ‘‘ Bank of Dee, 1835.” (Dickie hb.). It still grows in both localities, as well as on waste marshy ground in a good many places in the inland parts of Aberdeen ; but its distribution here has been much limited by drainage. J. acutiflorus, Hhrh. Sharp-flowered Rush, locally called ‘“sprots.” Native in swamps. ‘“Vulgatissimus in pratis humidis” (Skene, as J. articulatus, probably covering J. bulbosus, L. and J. lampocarpus, Hhrh.). ‘Den of Rubislaw’”’ (Cow). It is still not uncommon in damp soils in a few localities in Aberdeen, e.g., on fields near Hast Seaton; but drainage has very greatly reduced its frequency here. It shows great variability in the inflorescences. ; Adt. Ps. In all; general, and in many places abundant, almost to exclusion of other plants. Luzula pilosa, Wild. (L. vernalis, DC.). Broad-leaved Hairy Wood Rush. Native, in grassy woodlands. “ Rubislaw Den, 1835” (Dickie hb.). It still grows there, and on wooded banks of the Don; but it has become scarce in Aberdeen. Adt. Ps. In all; common in grassy woods. L. sylvatica, Gawd. (L. maxima, DC.). Great Hairy Wood Rush. Native; on rough banks, in woods, and on moors. ‘*Den of Rubislaw; Donside, above and below the bridge”’ (Cow). Still frequent in these localities. Adt. Ps. In all; abundant in various localities. L, campestris, DC. Field Wood Rush. Native; in short natural pasture. ‘In pratis et humidis. In the Links among the sandhills, ‘fl.’ 29 April, 1765” (Skene). ‘‘Rubislaw Quarries” (Harvey). “ Stocket Moor, 1835” (Dickie hb.). ‘On the Links and the Broadhill ” (Cow). 280 J. W. H. TRAIL This wood rush is still common on the Links, in a meadow by the Don near Seaton House, by roads and on quarry-refuse near Hilton, in Rubislaw, etc., and by the Dee. Adt. Ps. In all; locally common. L. multiflora, Lej. (L. erecta, Desv.). Erect Field Wood Rush. Native; in habitats similar to those of L. campestris, but preferring less dry soils, and also more apt to grow in woods. It flowers later. This was not distinguished from L. campestris in any published flora of Aberdeen. Its larger size and later period of flowering make it perhaps the more conspicuous form, though not quite so plentiful as campestris. Var. congesta, Koch, with crowded flowers, is more frequent here than typica, Beck, with stalked branches in the inflorescence, the latter being rather local. Adt. Ps. In all; general and common, congesta being the more common variety. PALMA. Phen dactylifera, L. Date Palm. Native in N. Africa and Arabia. On town-refuse seedlings have been observed by me on the old bed of the Dee, on Old Aberdeen Links, and in other places, sprung from seeds thrown out, or from decayed fruits. It is almost need- less to say that the following winter proved fatal to all such casuals. TYPHACEA. Typha latifolia, L. Great Cat’s-tail or Reed-mace. Alien. Native in N. Temperate zones, including part of Britain. ‘‘Don below Tillydrone ” (Knight). There is no other record for it in Aberdeen. It had certainly been planted where Professor Knight saw it, and it does not seem to have survived long. It was introduced about 1880 into an old quarry near Hilton, and still grows there ; and in September, 1909, two plants grew in shallow water in the bottom of one of the ponds of Rubislaw Bleaching Works. Sparganium erectum, ZL. (S. ramosuwm, Huds.) Branched Bur-reed. Native; in pools and streams ; locally common. ‘Old Town Links” (Beattie). ‘ Tillydrone” (Knight). ‘‘ Near the Brickwork, in Old Town Links, 1835” (Dickie hb.). ‘In the Den of Rubislaw ; in Powis Burn, near the Links ; in a pond south of Donmouth; in a small pond by the Hermitage ’’ (Cow). FLORA OF ABERDEEN 281 It does not now grow in most of these localities; but it is rather common by the Don from Seaton upwards. It grows in an old quarry near Hilton, no doubt as an introduction. Adt. Ps. In all; general, and plentiful in several habitats. [S. simplex, Huds. Unbranched Bur-reed.] Native in pools and swamps; not on records from within Aberdeen. Adt. Ps. : B: (P) : : O. Very local, and not common, except in shallow pools in a moist hollow east of Findon in B. S. natans, L. (S. affine, Schnizl). Floating Bur-reed. Native ; in pools and streams. ‘In Pitmuxton Marsh” (Cow; this may refer to S. minimum, which is more frequent than S. natans in marshes). S. natans grows in the Don in fair quantity ; but not flower- ing or rarely so. Adt. Ps. Ng: (M) P: DO. In the Dee and the Don. S. minimum, f’r. Small Bur-reed. Native; usually in shallow pools in swamps and peat-mosses. I have not seen this within the parish ; nor is there any certain record of its occurrence here; but it is not distinguished from S. natans in any record but the Botanist’s Guide although more common than S. natans in swampy pools, such as were to be found on the moors in Aberdeen. Possibly Cow’s plant from Pitmuxton Marsh was S. minimum. Adt. Ps. : : : : (Nh) : O. OnScotston Moor, rare; in White- stripes Moss, in pools liable to have the water almost dried in summer, local. It is not uncommon in a good many localities in the counties near Aberdeen. ARACEZ. Arum maculatum, L. Cuckoo-pint, or Lords and Ladies. Probably this is only a denizen in at least the north of Scotland ; almost always under shade of trees, in private grounds. I have no record of its growing at the foot of a hedge, as it does often in England. ““Gordon’s Hospital Garden” (Beattie). ‘Den of Rubislaw, 1885” (Dickie hb.). ‘‘ Wood east of Seaton House, 1845” (Polson hb.). Still common in both localities, on slopes shaded by trees. Adt. Ps. : B M (P):::. Only where there is reason to believe it had been originally planted. U 282 J. W. H. TRAIL LEMNACEZ., Lemna minor, Z. Small Duck weed. Nativein pools, ditches, and slow streams. ‘General in stagnant water’’ (Knight). ‘‘ In flower in Moss of Ferryhill, 1826” (Harvey hb.). ‘‘ Ditch near Links by Constitu- tion Street, in a pond south of Donmouth, by the Links; in a small pond at Powis Hermitage” (Cow). I have seen it in abundance in pools, now filled with debris, in the old quarries at Rubislaw ; but it has disappeared from almost all its former habitats in Aberdeen, and is now rare within the parish. Adt. Ps. (Ng) : (M) P Nh D O. Local, but abundant in some places. ALISMACEA. Alisma Plantago-aquatica, Z. Greater Water-plantain. Native in ponds. “ Ferryhill” (Beattie). ‘Dam of Gilcomston, in great abund- ance” (Knight, Harvey and Dickie hb.). The Alisma had disappeared some time before 1900, when the dam was filled up. It does not appear to survive in Aberdeen any- . where, Adt. Ps. (Ng) BM P:: 0. Local and rarely common. NAIADACE&. Triglochin palustre, LZ. Marsh Arrow-grass. Native; in marshes. ‘Deeside, Links, etc.” (Beattie and Harvey). ‘ Stocket Moor, 1835”’ (Dickie hb.). ‘‘ Wet pastures by the Links” (Cow). This may still be found on the low swampy part of the Links, near the Don, in small quantity; but it appears to have become extinct elsewhere in Aberdeen, though it must have been common and widespread on the wet moors formerly. Adt. Ps. In all, rather local, sometimes plentiful. T. maritimum, Z. Sea Arrow-grass. Native; in salt- marshes on coast. ‘‘Passim in paludosis”” (Skene). ‘Old Town Links” (Beattie and Dickie hb. 1835). ‘‘On the Inches; on Dee-side, in many places” (Cow). FLORA OF ABERDEEN 283 It is now almost extinct by the Dee, in consequence of altera- tions made on the estuary; but it is still plentiful on the low ground near the mouth of the Don, where liable to be flooded with brackish water in very high tides. Adt. Ps. Ng B:::: O. Common in wet places on the rocky shores, and by the estuary of the Don. Potamogeton natans, L. Broad-leaved Pondweed. Native; in streams and deeper pools. “Canal near Kittybrewster; Donside”’ (N. FI.). It still grows in the Don, and in old quarries near Hilton and Rosehill ; but it is less common about Aberdeen than it was. It used to be plentiful in a pool in the old quarries of Rubislaw, now filled with refuse. Adt. Ps. In all; in the Dee and Don, and in pools here and there. P, polygonifolius, Pouwrr. Oblong-leaved Pondweed. Native; in marshes and in shallow pools on wet moors. This is not distinguished from P. natans in the local floras of Aberdeen and its vicinity, though commoner than that species. “ Ferryhill Moss, 1837” (Laing hb.). ‘‘ Pitmuxton Marsh” (Cow, as P. natans). It must have been as common formerly on the wet moors of Aberdeen as it still is in similar habitats in the country around. Adt. Ps. In all; plentiful in suitable localities. P, alpinus, Balbis (P. rufescens, Schrad.). Reddish Pond. weed. Native. “Canal near Cotton” (Knight). ‘Abundant in the Canal, at Aberdeen ; and occasionally in the Don” (N. Fl. and Fl. Ab., as P. rufescens, and Cow as P. fluitans). It still grows in the Don. Adtineesa: se: ce NED O: P. heterophyllus, Schreb. Various-leaved Pondweed. This species, and the variety of it, under the name P. lanceolatus, are recorded from the Canal between King Street and Kittybrewster by Murray (N. Fl.), Cow, and Dickie. I have not seen P. hetero- phyllus growing within Aberdeen; but it is locally plentiful in lochs and streams in various parts of the neighbouring counties. P, perfoliatus, LZ. Perfoliate Pondweed. Native; in streams and pools. 284 J. W. H. TRAIL “Abundant in the Canal near Aberdeen” (N. FI.). ‘In the Don at Woodside’ (Cow). Still common in the Don. Adt. Ps.0: > 2 Nh DO) \ Inthe Don: P. crispus, L. Curled Pondweed. Native; in pools and streams, very local. ‘“‘In the neighbourhood of Aberdeen” (N. FI.). ‘The Canal from the lime basin to Grandholm’”’ (Cow). ‘“ Dam of Gilcomston, 1836” (Dickie hb.). The Canal ceased to exist in the middle of last century ; and Gilcomston Dam was filled up a few years ago. In 1907 P. crispus was very abundant in the ponds at the then-abandoned Rubislaw Bleachworks; but in 1908 these ponds were emptied of water, and the pondweed disappeared. I do not know of any place in which it may now be found in Aberdeen. NG i lektae gs a ((O) P, densus, L.? Close-leaved Pondweed. “In the Canal above the lime-basin, very abundant, and at Grandholm ; in streams about the Printfield, etc.’’ (Cow). This species has not been observed by anyone else near Aber- deen; and Cow was evidently mistaken as to the species. P. obtusifolius, Mert. et Koch? Grassy pondweed. ‘Tn the Don at Grandholm Mills; in the Canal lime-basin ; in a pond south from Donmouth, ete.’ (Cow, as P. gramineum). As this also remains unconfirmed there can be no doubt that Cow was in error. P, pusillus, 2. Small Pondweed. Native; in pools, very local. ‘‘Near Aberdeen in the Canal” (Beattie, Knight, and N. F'.). “ Ditches at Stocket”’ (B. G.). In 1902 I found this species in an old quarry near Rosehill, the only locality, so far as I know, in which it still grows in Aberdeen. Adt. Ps. : : (M) ::: 0. Not common. P. pectinatus, ZL. Fennel-leaved Pondweed. Native; very rare in Aberdeen. ‘Marsh on the Old Aberdeen Links” (Beattie, Knight, and N. Fl.). ‘In the Den of Rubislaw, near the head; in the Canal, ete.” (Cow, almost certainly in error, possibly for P. pusillus). FLORA OF ABERDEEN 285 Tt still grows in one or two shallow pools on the low part of the Links near the Don, where liable to be submerged by high tides ; but in a few years these pools will probably have been filled up in the changes likely to be effected on the Links. Ruppia rostellata, Koch. Lesser Ruppia. Native; in salt marshes, “Salt marshes at Torry farm, south side of Aberdeen Harbour ; this species was discovered here by Rev. J. Minto in 1849” (B. G.). The alterations made on the estuary of the Dee have extirpated this plant locally. Zostera marina, L. Common Grass-wrack. Not native near Aberdeen. ‘Near Donmouth, G. Baxter, 1813” (Knight). ‘“ Occasionally found up on the seacoast after storms” (Cow). ‘I have seen it cast up on the beach at Aberdeen, but have no record of it in situ” (BaG:). Abundant in the estuary of the South Esk, near Montrose, and in small quantity in the mouth of the North Esk, the pieces picked up on the beach near Aberdeen were probably brought from these sources, Zannichellia palustris, L.? Horned Pondweed. ‘“‘In a ditch near Deeside, above the Braes of Pitfodels” (Cow). Another very doubtful record, resting on Cow’s unsupported statement; probably due to a mistake, CYPERACEA., Eleocharis acicularis, &. Br.? Least Club-rush,. “On wet banks south side of Don; on wet places on the sea- coast at the Girdleness”’ (Cow, as Scirpus). Almost certainly an error in identification; unconfirmed by any testimony. E, palustris, Roem. et Sch. Marsh Club-rush. Native; on wet soil, by pools and streams. ““Passim in fossis, paludibus, rivulis” (Skene). ‘‘ Deeside, abundantly” (Beattie). “ Very common” (Knight). ‘“ Banks of Don, below the bridge; Dam of Gilcomston; on Deeside, etc.” (Cow, and FI. Ab.). Still grows by the Dee, and common by the Don, also in pools in the old quarries near Hilton, Rubislaw, etc. Adt. Ps. In all; locally plentiful. 286 J. W. H. TRAIL E. uniglumis, Schultes. Link’s Club-rush. Native; in damp soil near sea. “Tn the Links, north from the Broadhill, Aberdeen, by the margin of the south lake” (B. G.). Changes on that part of the Links have led to its extinction there ; but it is still not rare on the low part east from Hast Seaton, though limited by the deposits of town-refuse to form the football ground. This plant also will probably disappear from the Links as a result of changes in the near future. Adt. Ps. Ng B:::: 0. Very local, on seacoast and in estuaries of Dee and of Don. [E. multicaulis, Sm. Many-stemmed Club-rush.] Native ; in marshes, very local, and not known from Aberdeen. Adt. (Ps. Nie seis 2: ©: * Bay ofaNige) \(Beattie)aaNe side, G. Baxter, 1813” (Knight). “Bay of Nigg” (Fl. Ab. and Beveridge hb., 1842), now extinct there. Scotston Moor, not common. Scirpus pauciflorus, Lightf. Few-flowered Club-rush. Native ; on wet soils, and where water trickles over the surface. “‘ Roadside beyond Stocket”’ (Beattie). ‘‘ King’s Links, Deeside and Donside, common” (Knight). “Old Town Links, 1836” (Dickie hb.). ‘‘ Marshy places by the Dee” (B. G.). It is still common on the low part of the Links near the Don, where liable to be flooded by high tides, though a good part of the surface has been rendered unsuitable for it by deposition of town refuse. It seems to be extinct by the Dee, since the estuary was altered. It was probably common on the wet parts of the moors that formerly surrounded the city. Adt. Ps. Ng BM: Nh: O. Common on some moors. S. cespitosus, Z. Tufted Club-rush. Native on peaty moors. “Stocket Moor, 1834” (Dickie hb.). It is now very scarce in Aberdeen, lingering only in the remains of woodland near Queen’s Road West; but it must have been abun- dant on moors within the parish. Adt. Ps. In all; locally plentiful. S. fluitans, Z. Floating Club-rush, or Floating Mud-rush. Native. “Tn a pool near Hilton, abundantly ” (Harvey hb.). FLORA OF ABERDEEN 287 I have never seen it within Aberdeen, where I believe it to have long been extinct. Adt. Ps. Ng : (M)(P):: O. Very local, and rarely plentiful. S. setaceus, L. Bristle-stalked Mud-rush. Native; locally common on wet soils, where vegetation is thin. ‘‘Passim in humidis, arenosis et paludosis” (Skene). ‘“ By a damside near Old Bridge of Dee, 1835” (Dickie hb.). ‘‘In moist places on the Links, north of the Broadhill, etc.” (Knight and Cow). ‘‘Stocket Moor” (B. G.). Now very scarce within the parish; but probably often over- looked. I have found it as a weed in a garden in Old Aberdeen. Adt. Ps.5 Ng BMP: DO. Local; sometimes abundant. S. lacustris, L. Lake Club-rush, or Bulrush. Alien within Aberdeen. In a pool in an old quarry near Hilton; probably a recent in- troduction. Adt. Ps. :::::: 0. Only in the Corbie Loch where it is native and plentiful. S. maritimus, Z. Salt-marsh Club-rush. Native; in salt- marshes. “Old Aberdeen Links near Donmouth, 1826” (Knight and Harvey hb.). It still grows there, by the sides of the Tile Burn, and in shallow muddy pools on the low ground, liable to being flooded by high tides ; but it is very local, and is not likely to survive the changes in progress at that part of the Links. Adt. Ps. NgB:::::. Very local; at one or two places on the coast. S. sylvaticus, Z. Wood Club-rush. Native; among coarse vegetation by streams ; local and scarce. “In the Den of Rubislaw’”’ (Cow). This record is not confirmed, and may be erroneous; but the plant grows just outside the limits of Aberdeen, on the north bank of the Don, above the Old Bridge, as noted by Knight. Adt. Ps. : : : : : (D)O. By the Don, in small amount. It is not uncommon in various places in the neighbouring counties. S. rufus, Schrad. (Blysmus rufus, Link). Narrow-leaved Club-rush. Native; by the sea or estuaries, usually in turf apt to be flooded. 288 J. W. H. TRAIL ‘In the Old Town Links” (Knight and N. Fl., which adds “in extremely small quantity”). ‘Formerly on the Links at Aberdeen, north from the Broadhill, and along with Carex incurva, Dr. Murray” (B. G.). In 1869 and 1870 I found one or two examples among wet turf near the mouth of the Tile Burn; but I have not seen it again on the Links. Adt. Ps. Ng B:::::. Very local on the coast. Eriophorum angustifolium, Roth (£. polystachion, L., in part). Narrow-leaved Cotton-grass. Native in bogs, and on wet moors. ‘‘Passim in fossis” (Skene). ‘‘ Moss of Ferryhill” (Knight, ete.). “Stocket Moor, 1835” (Dickie hb.). ‘In Pitmuxton Marsh ” (Cow). This species was no doubt as plentiful on the wet moors in Aberdeen formerly as it still is on similar moors all over the district. I have seen it within the parish only on Stocket Moor, before 1880, and on a wet part of Old Aberdeen Links, near Linksfield, where a few plants grew until 1904; but in that year the place was covered with town-refuse in the formation of a football ground. I do not know of its survival within Aberdeen. Adt. Ps. In all; abundant on wet moors and in peat-bogs. E. vaginatum, 2. Hare-tail Cotton-grass. Native; on peat. This no doubt grew on the moors in Aberdeen, before cultiva- tion; but the only reference I can find to its doing so is in a manuscript list of Professor Knight, in which the name is included in a list of plants observed in Ferryhill Moss during an excursion with his class; but this record is rendered doubtful by its omission from a fuller list of the plants observed by him in various localities in and near Aberdeen. In this list H. vaginatwm is not mentioned, though there is in it a list of the plants of Ferryhill Moss. Adt. Ps. Ng B: P Nh DO. Local, but plentiful on some peat-mosses. [Schoenus nigricans, Z. Black Bog-rush.] Native on wet moors. Not in Aberdeen, so far as records show. Adt. Ps : (B):::: 0. Very local; but plentiful in a few places. FLORA OF ABERDEEN 289 Carex dioica, Z. Creeping Dioecious Sedge. Native; in bare wet places on moors. Extinct probably in Aberdeen. ‘Old Town Links; below Bridge of Dee” (Beattie). ‘‘ Stocket Moor, 1835” (Dickie hb.). I saw it in the latter locality in 1870; but it disappeared when the moor was cultivated, becoming extinct apparently. It was probably not rare on the moors in Aberdeen formerly. Adt. Ps. (Ng) : M P Nh: O. On moors where soil is wet with trickling water; rather common in a few places. C. Davalliana, 8m. A specimen (still in the Linnean Society’s possession) sent to Smith by Professor James Beattie, in 1800, with a letter, in which he gives the locality as “on a moor two miles west of Aberdeen,” was called C. Davalliana by Smith, in the be- lief that it was the European species so named. In Beattie’s copy of the Flora Scotia is a note, by him—“‘ Roadside beyond Mitchell’s, Stocket, S. side; trace the right side of the road from the burn eastward, where male and female spikes are found together.” ‘The specimen belongs to C. dioica, L. Cow mentions C. Davalliana as rare on the Links below the Broadhill ; certainly in error. C. pulicaris, 2. FleaSedge. Native; in natural pastures. “‘ Passim in humidis turfosis’’ (Skene). ‘‘ Stocket Moor, 1835” (Dickie hb.). This sedge was probably as common on grassy moors and in short natural pastures in Aberdeen as it still is in the surrounding district ; but I have not seen it within the parish for several years, though it is probably not extinct in suitable habitats still to be met with inland. Adt. Ps. In all; common in many places. C. incurva, Lightf. Curved Sedge. Native; never common, and for years apparently extinct. “Old Town Links, May-June, banks of y® rivulet going to ye low loch. Again, in immense quantity on the flat (upper end) which lies along the s. hills, creeping among sand which seems to have encroached upon the Links” (Beattie, MS. note in Flora Seotica). ‘‘In the Links of Aberdeen, in wet spongy soil, half a mile from the sea ’’ (Beattie, in a letter to Smith, in 1800). ‘Old Town Links, 1825” (Harvey hb.). “In the Old Town Links, by a road leading through the sandhills a little north from the Broadhill ” (FI. Ab.). 290 J. W. H. TRAIL One or two plants still survived in this latter place until 1870; but changes on the Links appear to have led to its extinction. Adt. Ps. : B:::: 0. A few plants grew on the north shore of the estuary of the Don, near the Coastguard Station; but I have not seen any there since 1880. C. arenaria, L. Sand Sedge. Native; in sandy soils by coast. “ Copiose in arena mobili” (Skene). Abundant on the Links from Dee to Don, including the steep east side of the Broadhill. Adt. Ps. (Ng) ::::: 0. Abundant on Links north of the Don. [(C. diandra, Schranck (C. teretiuscula, Good.): Lesser Panicled Sedge.] Native; in marshes, very local, and not plentiful. No record for Aberdeen, though it not improbably occurred. here. Adt. Ps. :::::: 0. ‘Near Aberdeen” (Beattie). ‘‘ Corse- hill Moss” (Fl. Ab.). This locality is at the north end of Scots- ton Moor. It still is not uncommon in that moss, as well as in the marsh near Denmore. C. vulpina, L. Great Sedge. Native; in wet sandy soils near the sea. “Crescit in arenoso solo, inveni solummodo in vie Old Town Links, near the Bents ” (Skene). It has long been extinct within Aberdeen. Adt. Ps. Ng B::::; 0. Locally common on the rocky coasts of Kincardineshire, and by the estuary of the Don near the Coastguard Station. [(C. muricata, Z. Greater Prickly Sedge.] Native; very local and scarce. Not recorded from Aberdeen. Adt. Ps. :B: PP: : > “Culter, 1842" "(Beveridge hbi)s This sedge may occasionally be found by the Dee and in sheltered nooks on the rocky coast of Kincardineshire. C. echinata, Murray (C. stellulata, Good.). Lesser Prickly Sedge. Native; in moorland pastures and peat-mosses, and on damp links. ‘“‘Passim in pratis depressis humidis ” (Skene, as C. muricata). FLORA OF ABERDEEN 291 “Moss of Ferryhill, 1827” (Harvey hb.). ‘ Pitmuxton Marsh” (Cow). ‘“Stocket”’ (Fl. Ab.). Though C. echinata must have been plentiful in Aberdeen formerly, it is now so rare as to seem in danger of becoming extinct here. It lingers in the remains of woodland near Queen’s Road West; and I have seen a plant or two by the side of a road west from Hilton. Adt. Ps. In all; abundant in suitable localities. [C. remota, Z. Distant-spiked Sedge.] . Native; by the Dee, local and rare. Not recorded from within Aberdeen. INGlins detwas 1B) WLS NS ve) of C. canescens, L. (C. curta,Good.). White Sedge. Native ; in peat-mosses. “Moss of Ferryhill, 1827” (Beattie, Knight and Harvey). “ Stocket, 1835” (Dickie hb.). Probably common here formerly; this sedge appears to have become extinct in the parish. Adt. Ps. In all; rather common in numerous mosses. C. leporina, L. (C. ovalis, Good.). Oval-spiked Sedge. Native ; in pastures, on grassy moors, and by roads and streams. “Passim in humidioribus” (Skene). ‘On the Links” (Harvey). ‘‘Stocket Moor, 1835” (Dickie hb.). ‘‘ Banks of Dee at the Old Bridge” (B. G.). Occasional tufts of C. ovalis may still be seen in Aberdeen, in natural pastures, e.g., on the Links, and by Dee and Don, as well as by roadsides about Hilton, Rubislaw, Old Aberdeen, etc.; but it is now an uncommon plant here. Adt. Ps. In all; rather widespread, but not plentiful. I have found the form possessed of bracts considerably longer than the inflorescence (longibracteata, Peterm.) growing sparingly with the type beside the Don near Stoneywood (Nh). C. aquatilis, Wahlenb. WaterSedge. Native; by streams, and sometimes in marshes. “Passim in locis humidis, ad margines stagnorum; in aqua stagnante crescens”’ (Skene, as C. acuta). ‘* Muddy banks of the Don, 1835 (Dickie hb., as C. acuta, under which name it is also recorded in B. G.). 292 J. W. H. TRAIL C. aquatilis is common by the Don, as var. elatior, Bab. The true C. acuta does not grow near Aberdeen. Adt. Ps. ::: PNhDO. Local; abundant where it occurs, chiefly by the Don. C. Goodenowii, J.Gay (C. vulgaris, Fr.). Common Sedge. Native; general in damp pastures by streams, and in swamps; abundant in places. ‘Tinks, and Moss of Ferryhill” (Harvey). Though still common on some parts of the Old Aberdeen Links, especially near Linksfield, its abundance there was much lessened a year or two ago by the deposition in the damp hollows of rubbish and earth to fill up the wet places. It is not infrequent in the inland parts of Aberdeen, and on wet places on the banks of the rivers and smaller streams; but it must have been much more abundant on the undrained surface formerly. It varies much in size in response to its environment, and also in colour of its spike- lets, one variety (melena, Wimm.) having the glumes and utricles almost black, while another (chlorostachya, Reich.) has them almost wholly green. Adt. Ps. In all; abundant in many localities. C. flacca, Schreb. (C. glauca, Scop.). Glaucous Heath Sedge. Native; in pastures, on moors, on slopes, along rocky coasts, etc., in wet soil. “Seaside, Torry” (Harvey). ‘‘ Banks of Dee and Don, etc.” (Dickie). Much less common in Aberdeen than it had been formerly ; but still to be found on wet parts of Old Aberdeen Links, on wet slopes by the Don and the Dee, on the coast east of Torry, ete. Adt. Ps. In all; common in suitable habitats. C. pilulifera, 2. Round-headed Sedge. Native; in dry natural pastures. “Rubislaw”’ (Beattie). ‘‘ Stocket Moor” (Knight and Dickie hb.). I had no record of having seen this in Aberdeen since the cultivation of Stocket Moor until I found a few plants in 1910 on a moist bank near the Paper Works, Woodside. It must have been not uncommon on the moors formerly. Adt. Ps. In all; common on dry moors, and also on the Links north of the Don in a few places. FLORA OF ABERDEEN 293 C. caryophyllea, Latour (C. verna, Chaix, C. precox, Jacq.). Vernal Sedge. Native; in natural pastures among short herbage, in early summer chiefly. “Old Aberdeen Links” (P. M.). “ Robslaw Den, Mr. R. Mac- kay” (B. G.). I have not found this sedge in Aberdeen ; nor have I seen an example in any herbarium from the parish. The Links record is probably due to misidentification of small examples of C. Goode- nowu ; while that from ‘“‘ Robslaw Den” must be regarded as not certain. Adt. Ps. :: MP:::. Local; probably often overlooked. [C. pallescens, LZ. Pale Sedge.] Native; in woods and on damp grassy moors. There is no record of this as found within Aberdeen, though it had very probably grown here, and may be found by the Don or elsewhere. Adi Ps: a(Ng) Nie: Ove N. bank ‘of’ Don above: the Bridge, 1842” (Beveridge hb.). Not common anywhere in this district. C. panicea, Z. Pink-leaved Sedge. Native; on peaty moors, and in wet pastures, by streams, etc., abundant in suitable habitats. “Passim in paludosis” (Skene) “Torry” (Harvey). “‘Stocket Moor and banks of Dee, 1835” (Dickie hb.). Though certainly plentiful formerly in Aberdeen, this sedge is now rare; but it grows on the remnants of moorland west of Rubislaw, and on braes by the Dee east of Torry. Adt. Ps. In all; general, and often abundant. C. pendula, Cow non Huds. Great Pendulous Sedge. “In the wood of Auchmill; in the Den of Maidenceraig ; at Rubislaw, ete. ’’ (Cow). These entries probably refer to C. helodes, which Cow does not mention; they certainlyido not belong to C. pendula, which does not grow near Aberdeen. C. sylvatica, Huds. Pendulous Wood Sedge. Probably native ; very local under trees. “Near Aberdeen, in Seaton Woods. Dr. A. Fleming” (B. G.). It still grows in the grounds by the north avenue to Seaton House, several plants being scattered on a grassy bank below trees. 294 J. W. H. TRAIL It may be native there, as it certainly is in a few places in the neighbouring counties; but it is associated with several plants (Arum maculatum, Narcissus Pseudo-nareissus, and others) that are certainly not native, though now growing apparently wild ; hence the sedge also may have been introduced. Adt. Ps. : : :::: 0. ‘Bridge of Don cliffs, rare’’ (Knight). “Tn the wood at Old Bridge of Don. Rare” (Fl. Ab.). There is no reason to doubt its being native on the north bank of the Don, and this supports the likelihood of its being native in Seaton. It appears to have died out at the Don; at least I have never seen it growing there, though I have often sought for it. C. helodes, Link (C. laevigata, Sm.). Smooth-stalked Sedge. Native ; on wet slopes, in woods or by streams; very local. “Marshes near Aberdeen, Prof. J. Beattie, junr.’” (Smith’s Fl. Brit., 1804, p. 1005). ‘ Rubislaw, 1826” (Harvey hb.). It appears to be extinct within Aberdeen. Adt. Ps.: BM PNhDO. Very local, but in plenty in some limited habitats. C. binervis, Sm. Green-ribbed Sedge. Native on drier moors, and in rough natural pastures. Originally described by Smith from specimens sent to him by Prof. James Beattie, Jun., as “‘ very common on the driest moors about Aberdeen, Rubislaw, etc.” ‘Den of Rubislaw, 1827” (Harvey hb.). ‘Stocket Moor, 1835” (Dickie hb.). Skene appears to have observed it from his record “in ericetis, vel pen- dula v. sylvatica.” “ Still to be found in woods west of Rubislaw; occasionally among rough herbage by roads near Hilton, Rubislaw, Ruthrieston, etc., and in some plenty on a damp bank near the Paper Works, Wood- side. Its abundance in Aberdeen is, however, of the past only. Adt. Ps. Inall; very frequent. [C. distans, Z. Distant-spiked Sedge.] Native; only near the sea, in wet places on rocky coasts. Not recorded from Aberdeen, though it may have grown about the estuary of the Dee formerly. Adt.0Ps: NexB™: :*) 273.7) (On isea-coast: C. fulva, Host. (C. Horschuchiana, Hoppe). Tawny Sedge. Native; on wet soil, on moors, etc. “Stocket Moor” (Knight, and Dickie hb.). FLORA OF ABERDEEN 295 The Tawny Sedge appears to be extinct in Aberdeen, north of the Dee, though it must have been common on the wet moors. Stocket Moor seems to have been its last habitat within the parish. Adt. Ps. Ng: MPNhDO. Locally common on wet moors, C. flava, Z. YellowSedge. Native on wet soils, on moors, wet banks, etc. “ Vulgatiss. in paludosis” (Skene). ‘‘ Pitmuxton Marsh” (Cow). “ Stocket Moor, 1835” (Dickie hb.). This sedge also, though once abundant in Aberdeen, is becom- ing scarce here. It still is moderately common on the low part of the Links near the Don; and it may be found here and there by the margins of the rivers, sparingly. Adt. Ps. In all; general and frequent. Var. Oederi, Retz. “Oldtown Links near Don-mouth, 1850” (P. M. hb.). Still there, sparingly. Adt. Ps. Ng ::::: 0. Not very common. [C. hirta, Z. Hairy Sedge, or Hammer Sedge.] Native; in light soil, usually by streams. Not recorded from Aberdeen, though it might be expected on the Links and by the Don. Adt. Ps. (Ng) (B)::: DO. Very local; common ina few places by the Don. [C. paludosa (Lesser Common Carex).] ‘‘On the banks of rivers and ditches, common ; on Deeside above the bridge ; in a ditch delow Gallowhill; in Pitmuxton Marsh, Millden, ete.” (Cow). This sedge is one of the most local in this part of Scotland, the only native examples known within twenty miles of Aberdeen growing on the coast south of Muchalls. It is difficult to conjec- ture what Cow’s plant may have been. Possibly it was C. flacca, which he does not mention. [C. riparia (Great Common Carex)]. ‘‘ On the sides of ditches and rivers, common; in Pitmuxton Marsh; in ditches above the braes of Pitfodels; in Millden, etc.” (Cow). This is another of Cow’s misnomers, as C. riparia does not grow near Aberdeen. The plant intended by him may have been C. inflata, which he omits from his ‘‘ Catalogue.” C. inflata, Huds. (C. ampullacea, Good.). Bottle Sedge. Native ; near streams and in swamps and pools. 296 J. W. H. TRAIL “Dam of Gilecomston” (Beattie). “Moss of Ferryhill, 1803” (Knight hb.). ‘ North bank of Dee” (Dickie hb.). It is now scarce in Aberdeen, where it must have been very common formerly; but still grows in Walker’s Dam. Adt. Ps. In all; abundant in suitable habitats. [C. vesicaria, Z. Bladder Sedge.] Native in similar habitats. to the last species; extremely local in this neighbourhood. Not recorded from Aberdeen. Adt. Ps: B:::::. In aditch near the high road almost. south from the foot-bridge at Cults. GRAMINEAE. Panicum Crus-galli, L. Casual, on town-refuse. Native in warm zone; widely dispersed as a weed of cultivated and waste ground in tropicand warm temperate zones, and sometimes extend- ing into cooler climates. ‘On the Inch, introduced in ballast” (N. FI.). I have found it, in 1893, on the old bed of the Dee, and in 1904 on Old Aberdeen Links. Adt. Ps. ::: P:::. Near Culter, in 1904, casual. P. sanguinale, L. Hairy Cock’s-foot, or Finger-grass. The same remarks apply to this as to P. Crus-galli. “Qn the Inch. Rare. Introduced in ballast” (Dickie, 1838). P. miliaceum,L. Millet. A frequent casual in recent years: on town-refuse. Perhaps native in 8.W. Asia and in Egypt; cultivated widely in the warmer zones, and thus dispersed through and beyond them as a weed or casual. First observed in Aberdeen by me as a weed on the old bed of the Dee, in 1893. It reappeared there almost every year until the extension of railway lines covered the ground. It has also appeared. very frequently on town-refuse on the Links and on the roads and new streets being formed in Rubislaw, Ferryhill, etc. In warm seasons it flowers and may produce seeds; but its recurrence is. probably due in almost all cases to seeds newly thrown out, possibly in siftings. Setaria viridis, Beauv. Green Bristle-grass. Casual. Prob- ably native in H. Asia; widely dispersed as a weed of cultivated and waste ground in the temperate zones. FLORA OF ABERDEEN 297 “On the Inch. Rare. Introduced in ballast” (Fl. Ab.). I have found it on town-refuse on the old bed of the Dee, in 1893, and on Old Aberdeen Links in 1905. S. verticillata, Beauv. Rough Bristle-grass. Casual. A weed of cultivated and waste ground throughout the warmer, temperate, and subtropical zones; native country uncertain. “On the Inch” (Roy). Zea Mays, L. Maize, or Indian Corn. Casual on town-refuse, from seed thrown out; native of 8. America; cultivated almost throughout the warmer zones, into the temperate regions. On the old bed of the Dee, and on the Links. It rarely grows beyond the seedling stage. Spartina Townsendu, Groves. On 30 June, 1915, a supply of living plants was forwarded to me by Mr. G. K. Sutherland from near Southampton. Of the plants I put about ten into muddy spots on the upper parts of the island in the Don above the New Bridge on evening of 30 June. On evening of 1 July, 1915, I put about nine into the muddy shore of 8. bank of the Don below the New Bridge, scattering them over about 250 yards’ distance. Phalaris arundinacea, L. Reed Canary-grass. Native; by streams and pools, less often in swamps. “Ad ripas fluminum” (Skene). ‘In the Dee, near the Old Bridge, 1835” (Dickie hb.). Frequent along the Don, by the Tile Burn on Old Aberdeen Links, and near Walker’s Dam; not common beside the Dee below the Old Bridge. Occasionally a striped-leaved variety, ‘‘ Gardeners’ Garters,” occurs by streams or on rubbish-heaps ; but only as an outcast or escape from gardens. Adt. Ps. In all; locally plentiful by streams, ete. P. canariensis, L. Canary-seed-grass. A very common casual on town-refuse, usually from its use as food for caged birds. Native in N. Africa, and widely dispersed as a weed of cultivated and waste ground. “Often met with, but undoubtedly introduced ” (N. FI.). It flowers here freely, but rarely seems to ripen seeds; hence its recurrence is due to seeds newly introduced in rubbish or cast out each yeay. Adt. Ps.::: P NhD:. Onlyasa casual. x 298 J. W. H. TRAIL P. cerulescens, Desf. Casual on refuse; native in S.H. Europe, and dispersed as a weed of cultivated and waste ground. First observed by me in 1893, near Aberdeen, on the old bed of the Dee, and in subsequent years there and on old Aberdeen Links; not common. Anthoxanthum odoratum, L. Sweet-scented Vernal-grass. Native ; on grassy moors and in natural pastures. Too common to require citation of records or localities. Adt. Ps. In all; abundant. Alopecurus myosuroides, Huds. (A. agrestis, L.). Slender Fox-tail-grass. A not infrequent casual on town-refuse. Native in Central and 8. Europe; an immigrant weed of cultivated and waste ground in Britain. “Tinks” (Knight). “Upon the Inch at Aberdeen, probably transported with ballast” (N. Fl.). It has been one of the more frequent casuals in recent years on the old bed of the Dee, on Old Aberdeen Links, ete. Adt. Ps. Ng :::: (D) (O). A rare casual on rubbish. A. geniculatus, Z. Floating Fox-tail-grass. Native in pools, by ditches and streams, and on wet soils. Too general and frequent to require citation of records or of localities, though less plentiful than it must have been before drainage of the surface. Adt. Ps. In all; abundant in suitable habitats. A. pratensis, L. Meadow Fox-tail-grass. Native; in pas- tures, often sowed in artificial pastures. ‘“‘Crescit vulgo in pratis” (Skene). Too general to require citations, but seldom plentiful in natural pastures. Adt. Ps. In all; common. [Milium effusum, Z. Spreading Millet-grass.] Native in the district ; but rare. Not recorded from Aberdeen. Adt. Ps. :::::: (O). Found by J. Sim near Scotston. Phleum pratense, Z. Common Cat’s-tail or Timothy-grass. Native in Scotland, but near Aberdeen not often seen except in arti- ficial pastures, in which it is often sowed, or where it might readily FLORA OF ABERDEEN 299 have been introduced unintentionally by man; hence perhaps a denizen. “ Hilton, 1807” (Knight hb.). ‘In fields and meadows, not uncommon” (N. Fl.). ‘Sides of fields, etc.; on Donside west of Seaton; on a roadside near Ferryhill; on the roadside a little east from Friendville; at Belleville; side of a field on the road leading to Grandholm from Old Aberdeen, etc.” (Cow). ‘‘ Fields at Kittybrewster, not common” (Fl. Ab.). Uncertain in its occurrence near Aberdeen ; usually in cultivated fields, or on waste ground or town-refuse. It is now common on Old Aberdeen Links, having been largely introduced with other grasses. Adt. Ps. In all; but under similar conditions as to dispersal to those described above. Var. nodosum, (L.). Native; in pasture on poor soil. “ At Footdee and Holburn Street” (N. F1.). Adt. Ps. :::: NhD:. By the Don near Dyce; not com- mon. ” P. tenue, Schrad. Casual on town-refuse. Native in S. Europe. A few examples were found by me on Old Aberdeen Links, in 1907. P, arenarium, L. Sea Cat’s-tail-grass. Native on sandy soils near sea. “Near Aberdeen, George Don” (N.FI.). ‘Formerly on Old Aberdeen Links” (B. G.). Agrostis canina, Z. Brown Bent-grass. Native; on moors, and in natural pastures ; lessened in frequency by cultivation of the surface. ‘“‘On moist moors near Aberdeen”’ (N. F'.). General in the district on grassy moors, in woods, and often by roads, though less abundant than its congeners; now become very scarce within Aberdeen. Adt. Ps. In all; general, and in some localities plentiful. A. alba, ZL. (A. palustris, Huds.). White Bent-grass. Native ; on damp soils, or floating in shallow water. ‘“Rubislaw ” (Knight). “On the Links, north of the Broadhill” (Cow). ‘‘ Frequent about Aberdeen” (B. G.). 300 J. W. H. TRAIL Too general in suitable habitats to require citations of localities, though lessened in abundance by drainage. Var. stolonifera (Z.). ‘In arena mobili frequens. On low wet sands, on Old Town Links, near mouth of the Don, July 29, 1765” (Skene). Still common there, as well as in other suitable habitats. Var. maritima (Meyer), by the coast. Adt. Ps. This species is common in all; and the varieties in their distinctive habitats. A. tenuis, Sith. (A. vulgaris, With.). Fine Bent-grass. Native; extremely common in both natural and artificial pastures, especially on poor soils. Too plentiful to require citations of records or localities. Var. pumila (Z.). A dwarf form is common in the district on bare soils, including roadways, though scarce within Aberdeen, There is a good example of it in the Beveridge hb., gathered in 1842 on the Links. In this form in N.K. Scotland I always find the ovaries enlarged, blackened, and filled with the globular dark spores of a fungus (Tilletia decipiens, Pers.). Adt. Ps. Both species and dwarf form are common in all. Apera Spica-ventt, Beauv. Silky Bent-grass. A common casual in recent years, on town-refuse. Native in Central and 8.H. Europe; grown as an ornamental grass in gardens, hence scattered as a weed, and also probably introduced with seeds of agricultural plants as a weed. First observed in this vicinity by myself, in 1893, on the old bed of the Dee, it has since then been frequent there, and on refuse on the Links, and in Rubislaw, Ferryhill, ete. Adt. Ps ::::: D0, On waste ground near Dyce Station. Ammophila arenaria, Link. (Psamma arenaria, R. et 8.). Common Sea-reed or Marram ; locally ‘‘ Bents.”” Native on sands. by the sea. This is one of the earliest mentioned of our native plants, its importance in binding the loose sands on the coast having led to its protection by legal enactments against its being destroyed. It is confined to the sandy coast, especially to the outer sand-dunes, FLORA OF ABERDEEN 301 though also on the east side of the Broadhill, and on the bare parts of the inner dunes. Adt. Ps. ::::::0O. Abundant on the Links north of the Don. Aira caryophyllea, L. Silvery Hair-grass. Native; on dry banks, earthen dykes, thin pastures, etc. “In sterilioribus”’ (Skene). ‘“ Near Aberdeen in many places. Rubislaw Quarry” (N. F'.). Generally distributed ; plentiful here and there. A form with numerous stems crowded together (apparently multiculmis, Dum.) has been found by me once or twice near Aberdeen, perhaps intro- duced with grass seeds. Adt. Ps. In all; locally plentiful. A. praecox, L. Harly Hair-grass. Native; like A. cary- ophyllea in distribution. “Old Town Links, 1835” (Dickie hb.). General, often plentiful, e.g., on walls of earth and on dry banks in early summer. Adt. Ps. In all; general, and plentiful in suitable habitats. A. (Deschampsia) ceespitosa, ZL. Tufted Hair-grass. Native ; in damp soils, by streams, in woods, in meadows, by roads and on waste ground. Too general and common to require citation of records or locali- ties. Adt. Ps. In all; common. [A. (D.) setacea, Huds. (A. uliginosa, Weihe, D. discolor, R. et 8.). Bog Hair-grass.] Native; on wet moors, in marshes and round pools, often rising out of water. It has not been recorded from Aberdeen; but it was not dis- tinguished from its allies as a British species until comparatively recent years; and it probably grew on the wet moors that once covered so much of the parish, as it still does only a little way be- yond our limits. Adt. Ps. NgB:: Nh DO. Plentiful in Nigg, especially round the Loch of Loirston ; local and seldom frequent elsewhere. A. (D.) flexuosa, LZ. Waved Hair-grass. Native; on moors, in woods, ete. “ Passim in siccioribus et sterilioribus”” (Skene). ‘“ At Rubislaw’ (Cow). ‘‘Stocket Moor” (Fl. Ab.). “Links, 1840” (Laing hb.). ’ 302 J. W. H. TRAIL This must have been abundant in Aberdeen formerly, though no longer so, and now almost confined to a few places west of Rubislaw and near Hilton. Adt. Ps. In all; very common, on moors and in woods. Holcus mollis, L. Creeping Soft-grass. Native; in woods and pastures ; occasionally plentiful, though much less abundant than H. lanatus. ‘‘Passim in pascuis’”’ (Skene). ‘‘Corn-fields near Old Town Links and Rubislaw Den, 1835” (Dickie hb.). ‘‘ In a meadow west of Seaton ; in the Links near the Broadhill” (Cow). Still frequent under trees, by the borders of fields, ete., by the Don, about Hilton, Rubislaw, and elsewhere. Adt. Ps. In all; general, and often plentiful. H. lanatus, Z. Meadow Soft-grass or Yorkshire Fog. Native; a too abundant weed of both natural and artificial pastures, sides of fields, etc. Everywhere common. Adt. Ps. In all; too plentiful. Trisetum flavescens, Beauv. (T. pratense, Pers.). Yellow Oat- grass. Uncertain in its appearance about Aberdeen, and probably alien. “‘ Aberdeen Links, near the Broadhill, Mr. James Farquharson ; Summerhill, Mr. A. Smith; Rubislaw Den, Mr. R. Mackay; Don- mouth and above the New Bridge, on the south side of the river, Prof. Macegillivray”’ (P. M.) ‘South-east from the Broadhill, Rey. J. Farquharson ; I have seen it abundantly at this station; it is probably now extirpated” (B. G.). I have seen it in plenty on a lawn in Old Aberdeen, in 1876, in fair abundance on sandhills north-east from the Broadhill, in 1891, and occasionally as a casual on town-refuse here and there around Aberdeen. It seldom holds its place for more than a year or two ; and there seems reason to believe that in every case it has sprung from newly introduced seeds, and must be classed as a casual only- Adt. Ps. :::(P) Nh D (O). Almost certainly introduced with grass-seeds. Avena pubescens, Huds. Downy Oat-grass. Native; on rough banks ; may have become extinct in Aberdeen. ‘Old Aberdeen” (Knight). “On a steep bank by the side of a FLORA OF ABERDEEN 303 field at the east end of Powis” (Fl. Ab.), “ By the Don near Seaton House, 1818” (W. M. hb.). The habitat near Powis has for years ceased to exist, owing to the removal of sand from a sandpit on the site. I have seen this grass within Aberdeen only on an island below the cruives on the Don near Gordon’s Mills and by the Don above Woodside in small quantity. Adt. Ps. NgB:: NhDO. Though not common, it is rather general on the rocky coast, and occurs in various places by the Dee and the Don. [A. pratensis, LZ. Narrow-leaved Oat-grass.] Native; in rough natural pastures, on the coast, and by the Dee; local and rather scarce. bie Not recorded from Aberdeen. Adt. Ps. Ng B:::: 0. Nowhere abundant. A. sativa, L. Common Cultivated Oat. A frequent casual on town-refuse, on manure-heaps, on waste ground, by fields and roads, etc. Native land uncertain; widely dispersed as a field crop, and as fodder. Several varieties have appeared as casuals around Aberdeen. A. orientalis, Schreb. Tatarian Oat. In recent years this also has become a common casual with A. sativa, which it re- sembles in its native land being uncertain and in its dispersal by cultivation as a field crop. A. strigosa, Schreb. Bristle-pointed Oat. Casual or sub- colonist, as a weed in corn-fields. Appears to be native in Asia near the Caspian Sea; dispersed over Europe and elsewhere by cultivation formerly, now cultivated only in cold poor soils. “‘Corn-fields near Old Town Links, 1835” (Dickie hb.). A rather frequent weed of crops in N.H. Scotland; possibly relict from former cultivation in this district. Adt. Ps. In all. A. fatua, L. Wild Oat. Casual. Native country un- certain; known only as a weed of cultivated soils or on waste ground ; widely dispersed by agriculture as a weed among cereals. Chiefly on town-refuse, e.g., on old bed of Dee in 1893, and in subsequent years there, on Old Aberdeen Links, and elsewhere. Adt.dess. Noes BONbiie) Arare casual: 304 J. W. H. TRAIL Arrhenatherum elatius, Mert. et Koch (A. avenaceum, Beauv., Avena elatior, L.). Tall Oat-grass. Native ; among coarse vegeta- tion on the banks of streams and borders of thickets. The variety with cylindrical rather slender rhizomes is not frequent near Aberdeen ; but I have found it by the Dee and the Don, and on the Links. Skene says of it: “In ripis Don prope pontem invenio gramen huic”’ (the var. twherosum), ‘‘ omnino con- veniens nisi radice qui omnino fibrosus est, nullo tuberi.”’ Adt. Ps. Ng BM: Nh: O. Not common. Var. tuberosum, Gilib. (precatorium, Thuill.), locally called “ Knot-grass,”’ because of the spherical internodes of the rhizome. “ Passim arvorum infelix incola’”’ (Skene). A too abundant weed of cultivated soil, the swollen internodes, each with a bud growing from it, enabling the buds to develop into new plants if the rhizome is broken into parts in agricultural operations. Adt. Ps. In all; too abundant. Sieglingia decumbens, Bernh. Decumbent Heath-grass. Native; scattered over grassy moors, and in short herbage of natural pastures. “Tn sterilioribus pascuis ’ (Skene, under Festuca). ‘Old Town Links” (Knight). ‘ Stocket Moor, 1835” (Dickie hb.). ‘ Broad- hill’ (Cow). A scarce grass now within Aberdeen, growing in small amount on the Links, and on the remains of moorland and natural pastures in the west part of the parish. It was no doubt general on the moors formerly. Adt. Ps. In all; general, and not scarce in suitable habitats. Gaudinia fragilis, Beauv. Casual on town-refuse. Native in the Mediterranean region ; and probably brought among agricultural seeds. A few on Old Aberdeen Links in 1903. Phragmites communis, Zin. Common Reed. Native; in swampy soil and in shallow water. “In Pitmuxton Marsh ” (Cow). Extinct within Aberdeen, though probably not uncommon here formerly. Adt. Ps. Ng B::: DO. Very local; but plentiful in a few places. FLORA OF ABERDEEN 305 . Cynosurus cristatus, Z. Crested Dog’s-tail-grass. Native ; in pasture. “Passim in pascuis”’ (Skene). In natural pastures, on waste ground, and often sowed in arti- ficial pastures and lawns; general and common. Adt. Ps. In all; plentiful. C. echinatus, L. anti gus nominee fervalo €x mayo Orbem n fecit Gregory) us Scotie Ree circitur 4 | 578. Urbss privilena aRege dy ma nrimiun A? 65 . Qeasde We Bl (Ze I. Sevtpe Fam faccadentibas Copfemsta ere. Anno autem 1333. Regnante Daside Brifac: a marilimrs ; E )) ee earthen lla cosas | B d ~ see e ¥ S i } rae Ey Ed e Ei mast epi spider ee | ae tafus, wee ~Vorifiime - x, Ay i infoeefe, fac ie allen Le neve neftex rasigurart Cyt. fa Aas orks Abredonie da “gs nomenart ayrst. PAIRT OF MEARN é 14 y Seals Paffaum Gumunian Fberdeen in 1 «¥ ’ ear. <2 ota e Le vole i EM a tibsarde Log dr y a rt Z 7 ») i. ac, Zi i Shit pm by ade sie BS hot ae A Daern, Va eat Pea DT by tele nOeme ee = Seances ATR AN ae . caprmns Sony ir aires Smears a alk OR SBS 4 5A SD wa “ ae hehipe Aik nahn A ld Et ee ry fe ee ty, > A A ho kA TT a ies sigs a = " ye } . Reh wae oo aeztss Pe pee rt pee ee ey