THE ANNALS 



AND 



MAGAZINE OF NATURAL HISTORY. 



No. 39. FEBRUARY 1841. 



XLV. — On Saxifraga umbrosa and the Kerry Saxifrages. By 

 the Rev. W. T. Bree. 



To the Editors of the Annals and Magazine of Natural History. 



Gentlemen, 



In the review of Baines's ' Flora of Yorkshire 5 (Annals and 

 Mag. of Nat. Hist, for Nov., p. 217)* mention is made of Sax- 

 ifraga umbrosa being " exceedingly abundant in the west and 

 south-west of Ireland." This, I cannot help thinking, is an 

 error ; at least, I can confidently state from close inspection 

 on the spot, that the plant which occurs in such profusion in 

 the " Gap of Dunloe," e. g., and on the " Reecks" and many 

 other places in the neighbourhood of Killarney, is not the 

 true S. umbrosa, but an allied species ; or perhaps it might be 

 more correct to say, that these Kerry Saxifrages consist of se- 

 veral species, two forms or varieties of which are figured in 

 6 English Botany' under the names of S. Geum and hirsuta; but 

 whether they correspond with the Linnaean species so named, 

 admits, I think, of great doubt. On the mountains of the 

 county of Kerry these plants (be they of two, or more, or only 

 of one species) occur, as I have said, in very great abundance ; 

 and the varieties, differing in the size, shape, and hairiness of 

 the leaves, and in the length of the petiole, between what may 

 be considered the two extreme links of the chain or series, 

 are absolutely interminable*. But after the most diligent per- 

 sonal search, I was unable to discover S. umbrosa on the Irish 

 mountains, when I visited that country in the year 1814 ; and 

 from the best information I could obtain from persons most 

 competent to form a judgement on the subject, I was led to 

 believe that the latter species was not there known as a na- 

 tive of Ireland. Is it, in fact, a genuine native of Britain ? 

 Some years ago I was at no inconsiderable pains to settle this 

 question, or, in other words, to meet with S. umbrosa growing 



* See Haworth's Saxifvagearum Enumerafcio. 

 Ann. $ Mag. N. Hist. Vol. vi. 2 d 



