3i8 The Irish Naturalist. 



CHARACE^E. 



Irish Characcae. — In the Journal of Botany for October, Messrs. 

 Groves publish their records of British Characese for the last five 5-ears. 

 We are glad to see Irish plants figuring prominently in the lists of new 

 stations for the various species and varieties. Most of the Irish notes 

 here given have been already published in the paper Avhich Messrs, 

 Groves contributed to these pages at the beginning of the present 

 vear. 



PHANEROGAMS. 



Flora of Howth.— Miss Jeannette Featherstonhaugh sends a speci- 

 men of Aniennaria dioica, gathered early this summer, growing among 

 heather on the upper cliff-walk. This forms an interesting addition to 

 the flora of Howth. 



R. LiyOYD Praeger. 



Aran Island Brambles.— When on Aranmore in July, I collected 

 specimens of the few forms of Rubus that grew there ; and they have 

 since been submitted to Rev. W. Moyle Rogers, whose notes did not 

 reach me in time for insertion in the botanical report of the Galway 

 Conference. The Rti/>us-^or2i of Aran appears to be very limited, and 

 consists almost entirely of R. riisticanus, R. corylifolius, and R. cizsius, and 

 their h3'brids. A more interesting form, and the only other form I 

 gathered, was R. fnollissimus, Rogers {Joiirn. BoL, February, 1894). This 

 plant was also the only bramble which grew on Inismacdarragh, a re- 

 mote islet of the Connemara coast, celebrated for the beautiful primitive 

 church which stands on it, and other remains of early Christianity. Mr. 

 Rogers writes — " The Aran Rzibi are apparently very poor. Where 

 rusticanus and the civsii appropriate the ground they seem to try to make 

 up for the want of other allies by hybridising endlessly. But your 

 finding ?nollissimus there is very interesting." 



R. L1.OYD Praeger. 



Carex fusca, All. (=^C. Buxbaumll, Wahl.) In Scotland.— 



To the Annals of Scottish Natural History for October, Mr. Arthur Bennett 

 contributes a short paper on the recent finding of Carex fusca (better 

 known as C. Buxbaumii) in Scotland, which interesting discovery had 

 been already announced in the Journal of Botany for September. The 

 interest of this find to Irish botanists lies in the fact that for the long 

 space of sixty years this has been considered an exclusively Irish plant 

 as regards the British Isles. It was discovered in 1835 by Dr. David 

 Moore on Harbour Island, lyougli Neagli, near Toome, and has not since 

 been found elsewhere either at Lough Neagh or in other localities. As it 

 is a native of Scandinavia, and Central Europe, its occurrence in Scotland 

 does not come as a surprise. The station where it has now been found 

 by Mr. W. F. Miller, is in the district of Arisaig in Inverness-shire, on 

 the swampy margins of a small loch, where the finder reports five large 

 patches of the plant. The discovery is of importance also, since, on 

 account of drainage and grazing, it is doubtful if the plant still survives 

 in its only Irish habitat. May it long flourish undisturbed on the 

 margins of this remote Scottish loch. 



Old Plant Remedies. — In the Dublin Journal of Medical Science for 

 September, Dr. Henry S. Purdon writes on "Old Native Remedies." 

 Those who are interested in the medicinal uses, real and imaginary, of 

 our native plants, will find interesting information in Dr. Purdon's 

 article, which deals with the plants formerly or still in use in the neigh- 

 bourhood of Belfast. 



