i9t2. Scui^i^Y. — Some Introduced Plants in Kerry. 217 



Verbascum virgatum Stokes. 

 The most marked example, however, of this plant per- 

 sistence in the Kerry flora is the presence near Ken mare 

 for more than one hundred years of Verbascum virgatum, 

 Stokes, a species unknown elsewhere in Ireland in an estab- 

 lished state. As long ago as 1806 Mackay recorded Ver~ 

 bascum pulverulentum as found by Mr. George Clark in 

 1804 in a locality near Kenmare. When examining this 

 district about twenty years ago, several plants of V. 

 virgatum were found in the locality indicated, and as V. 

 Thapsus does not grow in the immediate neighbourhood, 

 there can be no reasonable doubt that V. virgatum was the 

 species really referred to in Mackay's record. It was seen 

 there as late as July of this year, as usual in very scanty 

 quantity, the largest number of plants noted in any year being 

 about a dozen, the smallest only one or two. It should 

 be remembered that this is not a case of the survival of a 

 perennial tuft, as with the Dianthus, but of the constant 

 renewal by seed of a biennial for at least 108 years. 



Among introductions which show a tendency to spread 

 in Kerry may be mentioned Mimulus Langsdorjii, already 

 thoroughly established in the neighbouring county of Cork, 

 and Fuchsia Riccartonii, a striking ornament in many of the 

 western portions of the county. Juncus tenuis, if really 

 introduced, and the present writer is inclined to give it 

 native rank in both Kerry and Cork, appears to be about 

 stationary. In one outlying locality of limited extent the 

 tufts of the Rush were counted and have been kept under 

 observation for a period of 18 years without any appreciable 

 alteration in quantity being noted, although the locality 

 was quite suitable for a wide extension of its range. 



Two instances of attempted colonisation and failure may 

 be given before bringing these notes to a close. In 1902 

 Crepis biennis was abundant in a meadow near the Spa 

 village, Tralee Bay; in the following year it had dwindled 

 to a few plants, and since 1903 it has -not been seen either 

 there or elsewhere in the county. In the same year 

 Valerianella carinata was found in abundance on roadside 

 walls and banks near Bally heigue, it, too, has now quite 

 disappeared from this its only known Kerry station. 



Dundrum, Co. Dublin. 



