HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOS SI P. 



169 



HOLIDAY EAMBLES IN THE WEST OF IRELAND. 



THE PLANTS OE THE BURREN.. 

 By G. H. Kixahax, M.R.I.A. 



9 H E unique and 

 beautiful assem- 

 blage of plants in 

 the barony of Bur- 

 ren \anglice, a rock, 

 or rocky district], 

 co. Clare, is a rich 

 treat to the botan- 

 ist. They, how- 

 ever, cannot all be 

 studied, unless the observer 

 spend at least a year in the 

 country, as some are only 

 found in the spring-, others 

 in the summer, while some 

 appear in the autumn, 

 others in the winter. Some 

 years ago my old friend and 

 colleague, the late F. J. 

 Foot, Esq., M.A., made a 

 careful examination of the 

 district, and in a paper read 

 before the Royal Irish 

 Academy he gave a list and 

 description of all the charac- 

 teristic and rare plants, while a map that accom- 

 panied the paper pointed out the localities where 

 they were found.* 



Mr. Foot's map is an advantage, and at the same 

 time a disadvantage, to the botanist, as some bar- 

 barians, since its publication, have visited the 

 country, and by its help found out the localities of 

 some of the rarest plants and taken them all away, 

 thus obliterating them from the list. From Mr. 

 Foot's paper I have extracted the following names 

 of the characteristic and rarer plants : — 



List of the Characteristic and Rare Plants of the 

 Barony of Bun-en. — Arabis hirsuta, Arenaria verna, 

 Cerastium arvense, Geranium sanguineum, Euony- 



* "Trans. Royal Irish Academy," vol. xxiv. p. 142. 



No. 140. 



mus Europseus, Geum rivale, Rubus saxatilis, Agri- 

 monia eupatoria, Sedum acre, Saxifraga hypnoides, 

 Sanicula Europtea, Rubia peregrina, Galium pusil- 

 lum, Asperula cynanchier, Valeriana officinalis, V. 

 rubra, Gnaphalium dioicum, Chlora perfoliata, Juni- 

 perus nana, Taxus baccata, Triglochlin palustre,. 

 Listera ovata, Orchis pyramidalis, Ceterach officina- 

 rum,Gymnadeniaconopsea, Polystichum aculeatum, 

 P. lobatum, P. lobatum var. Lonchitidoides, Asple- 

 nium ruta muraria, A. trichomanes, Scolopendrium 

 vulgare, Thalictrum majus, T. minus, Helianthe- 

 mum canum, Spiraea filipendula, Dryas octopetala, 

 Sedum rhodiola, Arbutus uva ursi, Pyrola media, 

 Gentiana verna, Orobanche rubra, Epipactis ovalis, 

 Habenaria viridis, Asplenium marinum, Cystopteris 

 fragilis, Osmunda regalis, Potentilla fructicosa, 

 Adiantum capillus veneris, Rhamnus catharticus, 

 Potentilla comarum, Sedum telephium, Sambucus 

 ebulus, Galium boreale, Ajuga pyramidalis (very 

 rare), Statice spathulata, Orchis pyramidalis var. 

 Floriplena, Habenaria albida, Ophrys apifera, and 

 Botrychium lunaria. 



Some of these are most beautiful, their flowers 

 decking the sides of the hill and crags in their re- 

 spective seasons. 



To the general visitors, however, the ferns seem 

 to be the great attraction, the species and varieties 

 being most numerous and luxuriant. As might be 

 expected, those that come to the greatest perfection 

 are the ferns which require a limy soil or rocks, such 

 as the Asplenium ruta muraria, A. trichomanes, 

 A. adiantum nigrum, Ceterach officinarum, Sco- 

 lopendrium vulgare, Cystopteris fragilis, and 

 Ophioglossum vulgatum. Besides these, others- 

 that should be specially mentioned are the Adian- 

 tum capillus veneris, Asplenium marinum, Os- 

 munda regalis, and Botrychium lunaria. The 

 varieties of both A. ruta muraria and A. adiantum 

 nigrum are extremely numerous. On one hand, 

 the fronds are stunted with ovate pinnae, while 

 on the other they are most luxuriant, the pinns- 



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