58 The'Irish Naturalist [March, 



HORDEUM SYLVATICUM IN IRELAND. 



With Notes on other Co. Antrim Plants. 



by john adams. 



East July I was staying at Carnlough, and in company with 

 some friends went for a ramble up one of the glens which 

 abound in that neighbourhood. Noticing a grass which 

 seemed new to me, I pulled a tuft and put it into my pocket, 

 but did not find time to examine it for a day or two. On 

 making a thorough examination, I came to the conclusion 

 that it was Hordeum sylvaticiim. The place where I found it 

 agrees with the habitat as given by Hooker, namely, " copses 

 and woods in chalky soil." I was surprised to find that the 

 only Irish locality mentioned by Hooker was a place near 

 Dublin, where it was not indigenous. In the new edition of 

 the Cybele Hibernica, it is mentioned as occurring on the 

 terrace at Mount Merrion, but is described as " an alien, grow- 

 ing in some quantity, and still persisting in the above localitj', 

 to which it was no doubt introduced." During the past few 

 weeks my identification has been confirmed by that of Rev- 

 C. H. Waddell and Mr. S. A. Stewart, and through the kind- 

 ness of the former, I have been enabled to compare my plant 

 with a specimen of Hordeum sylvaticum in his herbarium. I 

 had also collected specimens of H. pratense and H. murinum 

 in the neighbourhood of Cambridge, and have seen specimens 

 of H. maritimum in the herbarium there, and as these are all 

 the other British species, I think there is no doubt about the 

 identity of the plant. It is a well-marked grass, with broad 

 leaves about half an inch wide, and with reflexed hairs on the 

 leaf sheaths. It would seem to be indigenous in the place 

 where I found it, but its distribution is very limited. I went 

 back to the same place a few days later, and did not see more 

 than about five or six tufts altogether. It grows on wet 

 slippery rocks overhanging the river, so as to be almost 

 inaccessible, and this is probably the reason why it has never 

 been discovered in this locality. 



In this connection, a few new localities in Co. Antrim for 

 rare plants, may be mentioned. 



