1899.] ri3 



POA NKMORAUS, P. COMPRESSA, CAUJTRICHE 

 OBTUSANGULA IN THE NORTH OF IRELAND. 



BY S. A. STEWART, F.B.S.EDINB. 



Poa nemoralis seems to have escaped observation in the 

 north for a long period. ; the most recent authorities which 

 could be quoted by the compilers of the Flora of the Notth-east 

 of Ireland dating back about half a century. It is, therefore, 

 very satisfactory to be able to state that it has been refound in 

 Antrim, District 12, and discovered in County Tyrone, thus 

 extending its range into District 10. Rev. C. H. Waddell has 

 just detected in his herbarium a specimen collected in the 

 woods at Muckamore in May, 1893, but which had remained 

 unexamined until now. Similarly Miss M. C. Knowles, of 

 Ballymena, finds amongst her plants some specimens of the 

 same grass found on a wall near Cookstown, in July, 1897. 

 This latter locality is in District 10, but on the very margin of 

 District 12. Poa nemoralis, though not rare in Great Britain, 

 is undoubtedly one of the rarer grasses in Ireland. The first 

 notice of it in this country which I can find is the following, 

 by John Templeton : — " On the walls and under the shade of 

 the trees on the roadside near I^ucau — northern road, 1799." 

 On the 21st Jul)', 1809, Templeton met with it in County 

 Antrim, on rocks at a little waterfall 011 the Glenariffe River. 

 Two years ago I examined this spot, but did not find the 

 plant. It should, however, be looked for with every hope of 

 success amongst the bushes of that magnificent glen. In 

 1804, when Wade's Plant ce Par/ores appeared, the station at 

 Knockcree, County Down, was added to those already known 

 for this plant. This discovery is attributed to John White, a 

 contemporary of Templeton. I once made a brief, but 

 unsuccessful visit to this place. Had I, at that time, known 

 that the exact habitat of the plant at Knockcree was on a wall 

 I might, perhaps, have been more fortunate. In the Cybclc, 

 White is credited with finding Poa ncmojalis at Rostrevor, and 

 also at Garron Point, Co. Antrim. White is said to have 

 supplied the localities for the Irish Flora, but it is curious 



