1924. Saxifraga Umbrosa Xativc in the Wicklow Mountains. 61 



escaped glaciation during at least the later stages of the 

 Ice Age ; numerous moraines encumber the corry floor 

 and mark stages in the final retreat of the glacier up the 

 valley. Saxifraga umbrosa grows on the cliffs along the 

 eastern side — those on one's left hand as one looks up the 

 corry — it being most plentiful in the gully which contains 

 the largest waterfall. This gully li<^" ' ' '^ nuarter of a 

 mile south of where the outlet of .. a tumbles 



over the escarpment into the corr^^ and must not be confused 

 vdth the waterfall at the head of the corry. Other habitats 

 lie between the ijullv and the lake outlet. Possibly some 

 botanists may hesitate to believe that S. umbrosa is native 

 in this locality ; but before venturing an opinion I would 

 ask them to visit the spot — as wild a one as any I have 

 seen in western Ireland. 



They will then see that it is not the cultivated, but the 

 native Irish formi of the plant which adorns the cliffs ; that 

 its habitat is exactly similar to those in which it grows in 

 Cork, Kerry, Mayo, and Donegal (I have never visited the 

 stations for it in Counties Waterford and Tipperary) ; and 

 that it grows intermixed with none but native plants 

 amongst which I will only mention Hymenophyllum 

 itnilaterale, Lj.izida maxima, Calluna vulgaris, Chrysos- 

 plenium oppositifoliiim and Saxifraga stellar is. Moreover 

 the gap in its distribution between the Wicklow station 

 and those in Waterford and Tipperary is no greater than 

 that which exists between its habitats in Mayo and those 

 in Donegal, so that granted that it is native in the southern 

 and western counties, there is nothing extraordinary in its 

 occurrence in Wicklow, except its escape from observation 

 until the present time. 



National Museum 



