1898.] Cybcle Hibcr?iica. 28 



o 



hitherto detected in Ireland ; this may be justified on the 

 ground of our very incomplete knowledge of their distribu- 

 tion ; but the sooner a beginning is made of showing their 

 range the better. Varieties and their localities are in most 

 cases given with commendable care ; if the rather worthless 

 " varieties " of Eqicisetiwi palnstre, polystachyicm and nudum, 

 are admitted, why not others of as good or better standing, 

 such as Polyg07ut7)i Co7ivolzmlus var. subalatum V. Hall, the 

 segrates of Lastrea Filix-mas, or the varieties of Salix repc?is ? 



In the Appendix, w^here the impostor and the houseless 

 immigrant are alike pilloried, we find among the motle}^ rabble 

 some old friends which have seen better days. Draba nipestris, 

 once a prized member of our alpine flora, is here, denounced 

 as a dwarf/?. i7ica?ia, or worse. Elisma natans, which held an 

 honoured place in the first edition, is here too, with " error" 

 written on it. So is the rare Euphorbia Peplis, once native in 

 Waterford, now dead and buried. And this list is not only 

 the penitentiary of the impostors and unfortunates of the 

 Irish flora, and the mausoleum of those who have gone before. 

 It is also the pantheon of the great unsuccessful. Here are 

 relegated the hundred and one casuals which foreign trade 

 brings to our inhospitable shores, and plants too which have 

 escaped from the bonds of cultivation. Many of these are 

 mere fleeting waifs, but others have succeeded in securing a 

 place among the native vegetation. Some of the latter we 

 would like to see released on ticket-of-leave, and included in 

 the body of the work, branded, if needs must, with the asterisk 

 which marks the certainly introduced. Hypericum calyci?ncm, 

 Scditm 7'2cpesire, Petroseli7iU77i sativu77i, for instance, can make 

 out a good case for admission — as good, perhaps, as Peuceda7m77t 

 sativiwi^ Myrrhis odorata, and the American Polygo7i7C77i sagitti- 

 foliu77i, w^hose claims have been allowed. We are sorry to 

 find several of the latest additions to the Irish flora consigned 

 to this limbo — Helia7ithc77iu77i imlgare from Donegal, Mcdicago 

 sylvestris from Dublin, Brachypodiu77ipi7i7iatu77i from Waterford. 

 We can hardly bring ourselves to think that the last of these 

 at any rate deserves this degradation. 



The laborious task of bringing together and arranging the 

 mass of published and unpublished records has been done 



