Y Naturiaethwr

a weithiai yn Chwarel Dinorwig, ond heb
ei enwi. Cywilyddiai wrth glywed ganddo
sut yr ymdrechodd i addysgu ei hun mewn
botaneg a hithau wedi derbyn ei haddysg
mor hawdd.
Here and there, amongst the
very poor, you meet with a
nature-formed botanist. I found
such a one and had to blush
again and again at my own poor
and lazily-acquired attainments,
as he explained to me, in broken
English, through what
difficulties he had climbed the
tree of knowledge, his “dim
Saesneg” and dim Latin
standing in his way at every step.
Drwy ymchwilio ymhellach, deallais mai
chwarelwr o’r enw Hugh Lewis oedd y
botanegydd hunan-addysgiedig hwn, ac fe
wyddai cystal ag unrhyw un am safleoedd y
planhigion prin.
Yna cofiais am yr awdures Fictorianaidd
Elizabeth Gaskell wrth iddi roi disgrifiad o
wyddonwyr dosbarth gweithiol yn ei nofel
Mary Barton, a tale of Manchester life.
Rhydd Mrs Gaskell ddisgrifiad gwych o
wehyddion cyffredin swydd Gaerhirfryn:
There are botanists among them,
equally familiar with either the Linnæan or
the Natural system, who know the name
and habitat of every plant within a day’s
walk from their dwellings; who steal the
holiday of a day or two when any
particular plant should be in flower, and
tying up their simple food in their pocket
handkerchiefs, set off with single purpose
to fetch home the humble-looking weed.
Cawn bennill gan y bardd Ebenezer
Elliott i grynhoi:
Learned he was; nor bird, nor
insect flew, But he its leafy home
and history knew;
Nor wild-flower decked the
rock, nor moss the well,
But he its name and qualities
could tell.
Gallai’r pennill hwn fod yn berthnasol i
dywysyddion a chwarelwyr Eryri yn
ogystal.
Os trowch i dudalen 153 o lyfr
ardderchog y diweddar William Condry ar
Barc Cenedlaethol Eryri ceir adroddiad
hynod ddiddorol ganddo sy’n sôn
amdano’n crwydro’r mynyddoedd wrth
wneud y gwaith ymchwil ar gyfer ei lyfr.
Wrth baratoi ar gyfer noson o wersylla
allan dan y sêr meddai:
I unrolled my sleeping-bag by a
murmuring stream and went to
sleep ... thinking of the botanist
J. Lloyd Williams who, when a
young schoolmaster here years
ago, found the Killarney Fern,
Snowdonia’s rarest species ... It
has not been seen since because
the precise locality was never
recorded; but it probably grows
there still in the spray and shade
behind some little waterfall. So
there is a challenge!
Yn wir, yn ystod blynyddoedd hanner
cyntaf yr ugeinfed ganrif bu llawer o
chwilio ar fynyddoedd cadwyn Moel
Hebog am y rhedynen brin hon a
ddarganfu J. Lloyd Williams, a dyma’r
stori.
Yn ystod ei gyfnod fel Prifathro Ysgol
Garn Dolbenmaen gwnaeth J. Lloyd
Williams ddarganfyddiad pwysig yn y maes
hwn ac fe’i cyhoeddwyd yn y Journal of
Botany yn 1887:
In July last I found a very good
specimen of Trichomanes
radicans [Llugwe Fawr neu
Redynen Cilarne, Trichomanes
speciosum bellach] growing in a
damp hole near the top of a
range of mountains. Not
knowing the locality in which
this fern was discovered before I
cannot guarantee but that this
one is identical with it, and for
the same reason as that which
induced the locality reported in
1865 to be kept secret, I must
take the same precaution in this
case. I may state, however, that
it was not found on any part of
Snowdon.
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