61 DUBLIN UNIVERSITY 



bourhood ; and I believe I may add he is of the same opinion with 

 myself. 



Sedum villosum Mr. Sim himself thinks must have been S. an- 

 glicum. 



The locality whence Stachys germanica is reported, is * close to the 

 College at Galway, and not far from what then (1853) were Ihe rudi- 

 ments of a botanical garden." Still it was mosi likely introduced by 

 accident, whether brought with building materials, or mixed with other 

 seeds sent to the garden. Its partiality for a limestone soil is well 

 known. 



The Muscari is also admitted by Mr. Sim to have been somewhat 

 near to houses, so that its claims to take rank as a native cannot be 

 much furthered by its occurrence near Fermoy, any more than those of 

 Tinea major and T. minor, mentioned as occurring along hedges. 



In another instance, in the same paper, sufficient care does not seem 

 to have been exercised in distinguishing between really wild plants and 

 those escaped from cultivation. I am indebted to Professor Dickie for the 

 information that Sibthorpia europoea does indeed grow ''naturalized," as 

 it were, within the precincts of the Botanic Garden at Belfast, the wonder 

 being that it should bear the severe winters of the north of Ireland. 



Feeniculum officinale, too, mentioned by Mr. Sim "as apparently wild 

 near Galway," is an encroaching plant, and readily becomes naturalized 

 wherever the soil is sandy, such localities being more frequent on the 

 coast. "Without wishing to dispute its being possibly indigenous in 

 the south of England, I conceive that we cannot be too careful in the case 

 of a pot-herb, formerly in such general use, as fennel. 



May not even Allium Babingtonii (spite of its high flavour) have been 

 cultivated by the ancestors of the present inhabitants of Arran, and of 

 the west coast of Ireland — -just as A. Ampeloprasum is still grown in the 

 west of France ? And though my friend Mr. D. Moore has gallantly 

 stood up as champion for Narcissus liflorus, I hope he will forgive my 

 urging on the other side that Lloyd, in the west of France, does not 

 allot it a place among the indigenous plants of his district. Possibly 

 the " holy men of old," who founded the numerous churches in the 

 Isles of Arran, had better taste in flowers than in vegetables, if they cul- 

 tivated Narcissus liflorus for its beauty, and Allium Babingtonii as the 

 leek best suited for their " omelettes" Certes / a very little of it would 

 go a long way. 



