I899-] 87 



A BOTANIST IN THE CKNTRAL PLAIN : 



being Notes on Field-work in 1897-98. 



by r. eeoyd praeger, b.e- 



(Read before the Dubliu Naturalists' Field Club, February 14th, 1899), 



During the two past summers I have been able to carry out 

 a good deal of the botanical exploration required for the 

 projected Irish Topographical Botany, and this portion of the 

 scheme is now within measurable distance of conclusion. 

 Two more seasons of work, with a continuation of the generous 

 assistance which I have received from various quarters, will, 

 I trust, sufficiently advance the completeness of the county- 

 lists to warrant publication. Meanwhile I would again remind 

 my fellow- botanists that any one of. them can render most 

 useful service by sending me definite records of any plants 

 from any count} 7 , with localities, finder's name, and as recent 

 a date as possible. Perhaps a brief account of my last two 

 seasons' work may be of interest to readers of the Irish 

 Naturalist. Portion of the results, so far as they affect the 

 question of plant-distribution in the twelve Districts of Cybele 

 Hiber?iica, has already appeared in these pages (ante, pp. 7-13). 

 If some of these records are repeated below, it is with the 

 object of emphasizing the features of the flora of the districts 

 traversed, and of conveying an idea of the fortunes that attend 

 the botanist in those regions. My object was to obtain, with 

 the smallest possible expenditure of time, a comprehensive 

 list of the flora of each county or vice-county. Every kind of 

 ground, therefore, which was to be found in each division — 

 wood, pasture, bog, gravel, swamp, mountain, river, cliff, or 

 lake — had to be sampled. Promising ground, needing careful 

 working, had often to be passed over with merely a preliminary 

 examination. The result was (as indeed was required) long 

 lists of plants, but including few rarities. 



• 1897. 



The season of 1897 opened with a preliminary visit in May to 

 Carlow and Kilkenny, a day being spent in the granite country 

 at Bagenalstown, and a day on the limestone at Kilkenny. 



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