22 The Irish Naturalist. [January, 



The Cork Groundsels. 



Having been for some years past much interested in the history of the 

 presumed h3^brid Senecio, which occurs in this district, I was pleased to 

 see the note in last month's Irish Naturalist, by Mr. F. W. Burbidge, 

 especially his opinion, after seeing the plant in situ, that it " has resulted 

 from the hybridising of S. squalidus with S. vulgaris,'^ a point on which 

 doubt has been cast by English as well as Irish botanists. 



First, I believe, collected and distributed by Isaac Carroll, who ap- 

 parently had no doubt about its being a hybrid, it was recorded by INIoore 

 and More in the Cybcle Hibemica as " may be a hybrid " but subsequently, 

 in " Additions to the Flora of Ireland," More states that " the supposed 

 hybrid . . . proves to be the rare variety of vS". z'/^/^arzV with ligulate 

 florets, which has also been found in Donegal." 



Specimens distributed through the Bot. Kxch. Club from 1875 to 1880 

 have been variously referred to in Reports of that Club as S. vulgaris var. 

 hibemica, S. vernalis, and S. crassifolius, chiefly on the authority of Syme, 

 who seems to have dovibted its hybrid origin. Dr. Focke in his work on 

 hybrids has accepted it as S. vulgaris x S. squalidus. 



How so many names came to be applied is not easy to see, but they 

 may be due to the fact that S. vulgaris var. radiatus and the hybrid, which 

 in some states closely resemble one another, both occur in Cork, the 

 latter being confined to places where S. squalidus is abundant, while the 

 former is plentiful and widely distributed throughout the county, 

 occurring on all the railways, many roadsides, waste places, &c., reaching 

 south to Skibbereen and Baltimore, and on all sides far beyond the range 

 of S. squalidus. The hybrid is a variable plant, the commoner form being 

 weak, with slender, rather succulent stems and branches, the rarer one 

 is upright, has a more fibrous stem, fleshly leaves and flowers approaching 

 those of S. squalidus in appearance. 



The variety radiatus is usually found in company with the type of S. 

 vulgaris, but in some places, as at Passage, is almost the only form to be 

 seen. 



Information as to the occurrence or absence of these intermediate 

 forms in the south of Europe and other places where S. squalidus and S, 

 vulgaris grow together would be most interesting and desirable. 



As an instance of an exotic establishing itself in a comparatively short 

 time, few plants will bear comparison with the spread of S. squalidus, 

 which is now the most abundant and brightest looking weed around 

 Cork and several of the neighbouring towns. It is in full bloom in May 

 with another burst in autumn, and individuals may be found flowering 

 at all seasons. Its leaves are usually pinnatifid with irregular linear seg- 

 ments, but a form occurs at Cork and Queenstown in which they are 

 lanceolate, entire or slightly serrate. 



Cork. R. A. Phii.i,ips. 



