by Robert Brown

“ Drosera rotundifolia is a plant not unfrequently to be met with on marshy ground. According to Mr. Lightfoot, the longifolia is equally common in Scotland, but this is far from being really the case. It has of late been asserted that the leaves of the Drosera have the power, when a small body is applied to their upper surface, of contracting and enclosing the substance so applied, by this means in many cases proving a trap to those insects which happen to light upon them. ”

“ Cicuta virosa is very plentiful in the ditches about Forfar, and in other parts of the country; but, although it is thus frequent, I never yet heard of its having been the cause of any fatal accident, although one of the most virulent poisons of the vegetable kingdom. In other parts of Britain it is providentially very scarce. ”

“ It is said in the 'Flora Scotica' to grow near Crief; but the figure referred to by Mr. Lightfoot evidently represents the Curex panicen, as has already been observed in the 'Botanical Arrangement.'
Salix arenaria, of Lightfoot, I observed plentifully in loose sandy ground near Montrose. It is, however, perfectly distinct from the plant so called by Linnæus, as appears from comparing it with that author's description. The S. arenaria, of Linnæus, is about the height of a man, but this plant is only about 10 inches in length and lies close to the ground. ”

“ Yalden, the S. latifolium is mentioned in the appendix as a native of Scotland, and the only place of growth assigned is the King's Park. That the plant here called S. latifolium is nothing else than the real S. angustifolium there can be little doubt, for Mr. Yalden, in a catalogue which he has given of the plants in the King's Park, and which is published in the end of Mr. Lightfoot's work, mentions the S. latifolium, although it is well known that the S. angustifolium grows plentifully in that place, and, as far as I have observed, no other species of this genus. ”

“ Astragalus glycyphylllus I observed on the coast betwixt Montrose and Arbroath. A species of this genus which Hudson, and after him Mr. Lightfoot, have taken for the A. arenarius, of Linnæus, grows plentifully along the whole coast. It is now found to be widely different from that plant, but what its proper name should be seems not yet fully determined. ”

“ Arbutus Uva-ursi and Epilobium alpinum. Both grow on many of the Grampian Mountains.
Dianthus deltoides I likewise observed in several parts of Angus, and in one found a variety of it with a stem not divided as is generally the case, but simple, and supporting only one flower. Is it not probable that this or some other variety of the same species is the plant mentioned by Sibbald as growing on a hill near Perth, and inserted in the 'Flora Scotica' under the name of Dianthus arenarius? ”

“ In a short time these hairs begin to be bent inwards, and gradually clasp the insect, which about this time is found dead, not so much in all probability from the pressure of the hairs, which cannot be great, but rather from the nature of the fluid which they exude. ”