22 The Irish Naturalist. January 



Chenopodium ficifolium, Sm., in Ireland. 



Rarly in September of last year I noticed, in an enclosed space at 

 Lisburn, Co. Antrim, where soil and some rubbish had been deposited, a 

 Chenopod, differing so much in form of leaf and general habit from 

 C. album, with which it was growing, as to lead me to suspect it to be 

 C. ficifolium, and to keep it under observation. It was so much belated 

 that the inflorescence did not appear till the middle of November, long 

 before which time C. album and Atriplex angustifolia, with which it was asso- 

 ciated, had died away and disappeared. The suspicion formed proved right 

 the identification having been verified by Mr. Stewart and Mr. Colgau ; 

 also by Mr. Arthur Bennett, who writes, " It is, no doubt, fine ficifolium 

 Smith" The records in the first edition of " Cybele Hibernica" have, 

 in the second edition, been discredited on the ground that they were 

 "not confirmed," and "are probably all errors." The present thus 

 seems to be the first satisfactory record for Ireland, and the plant, there- 

 fore, comes as a candidate for admission to the flora. Its proper standing 

 as Irish remains to be fixed. Pending further enquiry, it can hardly be 

 accepted as other than a suspected alien, which is the view entertained 

 by Mr. Colgan. It seems to be a species not often constant in its 

 localities, but it may probably have been overlooked with us, and, I 

 think, will not unlikely be seen again elsewhere in the neighbourhood. 



The Chenopods and Atriplices have not much attraction for many 

 observers, and have, perhaps, been too much neglected. Though said 

 to be near to C. album, our plant, where seen growing, is strikingly 

 different. The several specimens observed at Lisburn were very large 

 and robust, one of them being over four feet high, the stem near the base 

 more than an inch in diameter, closely branched and densely leafy, and 

 pyramidal in outline. The odour is peculiar, resembling that of stale 

 dried fish. 



J. H. Davies. 



Lisburn. 



Lesser Broom-rape on White Clover. 



Far from finding Orobanche minor "exclusively on Tri folium protease" I 

 find it in Co. Wexford abundantly on Trifolium repens. This summer I 

 persistently noted that the parasite was in full flower on T. repots in six 

 different localities before I had seen a single spike of it on T. pratense. 

 There was no Red Clover in the vicinity of any of the plants above referred 

 to. I have a note of finding Orobanche minor in flower on Sweet Pea in 

 the garden at Ballyhyland, in the third week of November, 1895. 



C. B. Moffat. 

 Ballyhyland. 



