42 The Irish Nahiralist. [February, 



for the neighbourhood of human habitations, and is much 

 more read}' to thrive in the outskirts of towns and villages 

 than is E, viontanum!' Many noteworthy instances of its 

 partiality for such localities are supplied in Trimen and Dyer's 

 " Flora of Middlesex " (1869), two of which I may be excused 

 for quoting: — " Marylebone Infirmary' garden, 1830," and 

 " under walls of Henry VII.'s Chapel, Poet's Corner, West- 

 minster." It is needless to encumber these pages with 

 citations of other examples of its occurrence in similar places, 

 many of which I have before me as I write. 



In some of its localities it is not constant. A most acute 

 and exact observer, Mr. Foggitt, gives me information of one 

 such by a stream-side, where he first noticed the plant in 1878, 

 in great abundance, but year after year it continued to diminish 

 in quantity until now it has entirely disappeared, not a solitary 

 plant remaining. At the same time there is no uncommon 

 plant in his district for which he has more numerous addi- 

 tional stations. In Yorkshire, he says, ** it very often springs 

 up in newly disturbed soil, particularly in town gardens," and 

 he thinks it likely that the seeds must sometimes remain long 

 dormant, in like manner as, for example, those of Erysimum 

 cheiranthoides and Hyoscyamiis Jiiger. 



The earliest mention oi E. roseu7>i as a British plant seems 

 to be in Symon's '* Synopsis " (1798) wherein it is stated that 

 in England it was first recognised by Curtis in Surrey.^ 



Templeton sets it down in his notes as having been detected 

 by him in 1820, only twenty -two years later. His exact words 

 are " E. roseuvi E- Bot. 693, found and determined by me in 

 the orchard, Aug. 13, 1820."^ That his plant was true E. 

 roseum has been questioned, but though the most careful are 

 liable to error, it is hard to believe that so accurate a botanist 

 as Templeton could have been mistaken in regard to a plant 

 having distinguishing specific characters so well marked as 

 are those of this Willow-herb. That the species did exist 

 near Belfast, so late as 1846, seems certain. Mr. Stewart and 

 Mr. Corry, who in more recent years made painstaking search, 

 failed to find it, and say " it must in this case be reduced to 

 the rank of a casual only." Had they succeeded in their 

 quest, might they not, in that case, have taken a different 



* As cited in Clarke's First Records of Bj-itish Flowering Plants. 

 'In MS. " Catalogue of the native plants of Ireland observed by John 

 Templeton, A.IyS.," now in Belfast Museum. 



