October, 1917. The Irish Naturalist. 157 



LOSSES TO A LOCAL FLORA. 



BY C. B. MOFFAT. 



The glacial conditions of the winter of 191 6-17 have left 

 their mark on the flora as well as on the fauna of this 

 neighbourhood. At least five species of plants have been so 

 reduced that it seems doubtful whether they will ever 

 recover their former plenty. These are the Weld {Reseda 

 luteola), Pale-flowered Flax {Limini angustifolium) , Fleabane 

 [Pulicaria dysenterica), Greater Broomrape {Orohanche 

 major), and Lesser Broomrape (Orohanche minor). 



The Greater Broomrape has been brought to the very 

 verge of extermination in its old stronghold of Killoughram 

 Forest, where, until a few years ago, its flowering spikes 

 could have been counted by thousands every summer as 

 they towered over the tops of the Broom, which was here 

 undoubtedly their chief host. Since the ploughing up 

 of a favoured stretch of broom-covered scrub this profusion 

 has been a thing of the past ; but I could still have counted 

 some hundreds of the spikes 'during a walk through the 

 wood in 1916. This year, though searching carefully, I 

 failed to find more than one. 



As the Broom had suffered considerably from the hard 

 weather, while the Gorse was nearly destroyed, it is possible 

 that this general disappearance of the Broomrape is due 

 to impaired vitality on the part of its host-plants. Even 

 the Heather {Calluna vulgaris), which sometimes serves as a 

 host, is alleged (as Mr. J. P. Burkitt informs me) to have 

 been killed in some districts, and may (though I did not 

 notice the fact) have endured minor damage here. 



The Lesser Broomrape should this year be celebrating 

 the Jubilee of its first recognition as a County Wexford 

 plant ; for it was in 1867 that Miss E. M. Farmar found at 

 Bloomfield (as related in the " First Supplement " to Cy- 

 hele Hihernica i) the two plants, on Sweet Pea and 

 Clover, which form the earliest recorded instances of its 



^ More : " Recent Additions " (1872), p. 24. 



