IMAGES TAKEN NEAR TO
Helen Way, ALEXANDRIA, G83 9PJ

The view is from Cordale Point. The houses are at Strathleven.

Mushrooms were abundant here, despite contamination; see Image

Looking towards Overton Muir.

Looking North-West Dillichip Close in Bonhill Alexandria. A housing development. The postcode is within the Leven ward, which is in the Constituency of West Dunbartonshire. In the background is the Carman Hill.

This area of housing is just to the south of Image, on the western side of the main road (visible at the far right) through Bonhill. Carman Hill, Millburn Muir (with Image), and other nearby muirs occupy the central part of the background.

See http://www.geograph.org.uk/tagged/place:Cordale+Point#photo=2206386 for related pictures.

When there was a print and dye works on Cordale Point (see Image), there was a building located here; only traces of its floor now remain, as shown here (this is not a track, but a concrete base). As explained at the link just cited, the whole area is highly contaminated; in any case, access to this particular area was subsequently blocked off. The reason for taking this picture was simply to provide a historical record of the area (if only to demonstrate that there is now little worth seeing); see also Image, a view in the opposite direction. The works are now mainly represented by chunks of rubble and pits, all set in muddy ground. The only structure that is substantially intact is the Image, which is visible from the footpath around the Point.

These berries of Arum maculatum (Lords-and-Ladies, Cuckoo-pint, etc.) are ripe, fit to burst. The plant is poisonous, containing crystals of certain oxalates which have an irritant effect. These particular plants are likely to have accumulated some additional toxins from their extremely contaminated habitat: Image

When there was a printworks on Cordale Point (see Image), there was a building located here; only traces of its floor now remain. As explained at the link just cited, this whole area is contaminated. For further comments, see Image, a view in the opposite direction over the same area.

These plants are in the area shown in Image The English name of the plant refers to the hoof-like shape of the leaf. This species is similar to Image in that the plant is long past flowering by the time the leaf is fully developed, and in that the leaf starts off with a felt-like covering. This is an early-flowering species, common on disturbed ground in many different habitats. The scientific name for Colt's-foot is Tussilago farfara. The generic name Tussilago comes from Pliny's Natural History, book 26, chapter 16. There Pliny, in Latin, mentions "Bechion, also known as Tussilago" (Bechion tussilago dicitur), although his use of the name does not, by itself, prove that his "Tussilago" is to be identified with the present-day plant of that name. He goes on to say that the smoke of the dried plant, inhaled through a reed and swallowed, cures a chronic cough, though it is also necessary, he adds, to take a gulp of raisin wine ("passus") for each mouthful of smoke. "Bechion" is simply the Latin transliteration of a Greek plant-name (Βήχιον < βήξ = "a cough"), but "Tussilago" has an authentic Latin look about it ( < tussis, "a cough" + ago, "drive [out]"). The use of the plant in an attempt to cure coughs has continued up to recent times, although any procedure similar to the one described by Pliny would only make an existing cough worse.