Vol. IV. AUGUST, 1895. No. 8. 



THB ORCHIDS OF COUNTY DUBININ. 



BY NATHANIKI. COI^GAN, M.R.I. A. 



So far as it is possible to judge with our still very imperfect 

 knowledge of the various Irish county floras, the County 

 Dublin is exceptionally rich in orchids. Out of a total of, say, 

 twenty-three Irish species, no less than sixteen are included 

 in the actual Dublin flora, while further research may be ex- 

 pected to raise the number to eighteen by the re-discovery of 

 two recorded species which have not been recently observed. 

 This proportion of sixteen to twenty-three is somewhat ex- 

 ceeded in the Counties of Cork, Galway, and Kerry, with 

 areas, respectively, about eight, seven, and five times as great 

 as that of the County Dublin ; Wicklow, with more than 

 twice the Dublin area, numbers about seventeen species ; 

 Westmeath,^ with exactly double, and Armagh/ with one and 

 a half times the area of Dublin, each number twelve species 

 in their orchid floras ; Donegal, with five times the Dublin 

 area, has, perhaps, no more than an equal number of 

 species ; and, finally, the three north-eastern counties of 

 Ireland : Derry, Antrim, and Down, with a combined area 

 more than eight times that of the County Dublin, hp.ve 

 one less than its number of orchid jspecies^ — fifteen. On the 

 whole, then, the orchid flora of the County Dublin may be 

 set down as exceptionally rich when compared with that of 

 other Irish counties, though it must be confessed that its 

 richness lies rather in the number of its species than in the 

 presence of any of the rarer Irish members of this peculiarly 

 interesting order of plants. 



The following notes, selected rather hastily from some j^ears' 

 observations in the highlands and lowlands of the county, will 



1 See Mr. H. C. Levinge's " Plants of Westmeath," /.JV„ 1894. 



2 See Mr. Praeger's " Flora of Armagh," /.N., 1893. 



^ EJxcludin^ Epipactis palustris and Cephalanthera ensifolia. 



A 



