2IO The Irish NahiralUt. [August, 



pen of Mr. J. H. Davies has made familiar to the readers of 

 this Journal as the only north-eastern station for Poterhivi 

 Sang7(7Sorba. Its nativity here has been called in question. 

 It grows in an old meadow on the Bunter sandstone ; in 

 general it is found on limestone. How^ever it may be with 

 this species, there can be no doubt regarding the claim of 

 another calcicole plant, Orchis pyraviidalis, which grows on 

 chalk quarry-rubbish over yonder on the side of the White 

 Mountain a few miles to the eastward ; elsewhere in District 

 XII. it is found only on the sands of Magilligan, in County 

 Derr3\ 



That tall 3^ellow flower which brightens the embankment is 

 Cfcpis biennis. About Belfast it is as abundant as its ally 

 C. taraxacifolia is about Dublin ; yet the former is unknown 

 in the northern district, and the latter is not found in the 

 metropolitan area. Both have been originally introduced 

 with grass and other seed, and have now fairly taken posses- 

 sion of their respective territories. C taraxacifolia appears to 

 be spreading more rapidly than C. biennis, and is now" found 

 almost across Ireland, and far to the southward. 



From Lisburn to Lurgan is a pretty run through the fertile 

 hillocky country so characteristic of the Ordovician area of 

 the north-east. The canal which we thunder across at Moira 

 is fringed with two interesting plants — the Flowering Rush, 

 B^domns itmbellahis, and the Sweet Flag, Acorus Calamus. 

 The latter is believed to have had its origin in Sir John 

 Rawdon's gardens at Moira, w^here it is known to have been 

 planted prior to 1744^ ; it now" grows in abundance along the 

 canal, from Lough Neagh to near Belfast. 



Now we get glimpses of Lough Neagh out to the north- 

 west, its smooth surface glistening in the afternoon light ; we 

 see the low promontaries of the southern shore, and the 

 wooded Antrim edge ; and far across the wide expanse rise 

 Slieve GuUion, and the Sperrin Mountains, in Derry and 

 Tyrone. To the botanist. Lough Neagh brings pleasant 

 recollections — visions of shores glow^ing wnth Purple and 

 Yellow Loose-strife, which alternate with patches of Bull- 

 rushes and Reed-mace. What a paradise these lake-shores 



' Harris : Ancient and present State of the County of Down, pp. 103-4, 

 1744. 



