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 THE CHARACTERISTIC PI.ANTS OF CO. WEXFORD. 



BY G. K. H. BARR^TT-HAMII^TON AND C. B. MOFFAT. 



In the following paper an attempt has been made to present a 

 list of the more interesting of the indigenous or full}^ estab- 

 lished species comprised in the Flora of the Co. Wexford. 

 Since the publication of the " Cybele Hibernica," and its 

 Supplement, the principal additions made to this subject are 

 two papers by Mr. H. C. Hart/ dealing with the flora of the 

 Wexford coast, and with that of the banks of the Slaney. 

 Miss L. S. Glascott, of Alderton, and the writers of this paper 

 have also contributed some local lists to \he Journal of Bo ta7iy, 

 relating principally to that part of the county which lies 

 between 'the rivers Slaney and Barrow; while a few species 

 are recorded for the first time in the present paper. The total 

 number of plants ascertained to occur in the county is 630, 

 but it is probable that many additions remain to be made, par- 

 ticularl}^ in the north-eastern section. 



The Count}^ Wexford, forming as it does the eastern ex- 

 tremity of Watson's Atlantic tj^pe in Ireland, is somewhat 

 richer than might have been expected in species generally 

 referred to that group ; of the forty-three Irish representatives, 

 twentj^-three occur here, while the inclination to Atlantic ap- 

 pears in at least two others of our characteristic plants. On 

 the other hand, out of the seventeen Germanic plants known 

 to occur in Ireland, we have but one,== for there appears but 

 little hope of verification for the old record of LytJu^um hys- 

 sopifolmm contained in Mackay's "Flora Hibernica." Of 

 Watson's Highland type, it is remarkable that not one species 

 has been discovered, three species ''inclining to Highland" 

 constituting our nearest approach to a sub-alpine flora, in a 

 mountain-range whose highest elevation exceeds 2,600 feet. 

 Six (or one in eleven of the Irish) species represent the 

 Scottish and Intermediate t3'pes, while three other species 

 inclining to the Scottish, and four to the Germanic type, 

 complete our list of plants interesting by reason of their 

 limited geographical range in Great Britain. A desire to 

 reduce the compass of the paper has led to the exclusion of 

 many uncommon species found within the county, but in 

 our view hardlj^ entitled to rank as characteristic. Vagrant 

 colonists on cultivation, or casual occupants of patches of 

 w^aste ground, with others which, though somewhat rare, 



^ H. C. Hart : "A Botanical Ramble along the Slaney and up the East 

 Coast of Wexford."— 7^«r. of Botany, Nov. 1881 ; " Report on the Flora of 

 the Wexford and Waterford Coasts." — Proc. R. D. S., vol. iv. (n. s.), part 3, 

 October, 1883. 



^ Orchis pyramidalis, whose type is held to be doubtful by some high 

 authorities. 



