April, 1897.] 89 



V • _ ■ - ^ ....>. .. .... \ ■ 



. IRISH PLANTS, 



COLLECTED CHIEFLY IN THE PROVINCE OF 



LEINSTER IN 1896. 



BY R. I.I.OYD PRAKGKR, B.^. 



Thk following paper refers to the more noteworthy plants 

 collected by myself in Queen's Co., King's Co., Kildare, 

 Meath, and Louth, during last summer ; and I have added a 

 few rare Wicklow plants observed during the last few years, 

 and one or two stray notes from other counties hitherto un- 

 published. Plants found in 1896, of which record has already 

 been made in these pages — such as Medicago sylvestris, the 

 results of the Clonbrock and Cavan Excursions, and various 

 short notes — are not mentioned here. I have set down only 

 such stations as furnish an extension of range, or a confirma- 

 tion of old records, or evidence as to the indigenousness of 

 doubtful natives. My best thanks are due to Messrs. H. and 

 J. Groves, Rev. E- S. Marshall, Rev. W. M. Rogers, and Mr. 

 F. Townsend, for identifying critical plants of the groups with 

 which their names are associated ; and I am under deep 

 obligations to Mr. Arthur Bennett, for going through a very 

 large number of specimens— indeed it is no exaggeration to 

 say that all the plants in my list, with the exception of well- 

 marked and non-variable species, have passed through his 

 hands. To Mr. N. Colgan also I am indebted for kindly 

 checking my records with the MS. of the forthcoming new 

 edition of Cybele Hibernica^ thereby avoiding the useless pub- 

 lication of stations already known, and determining which 

 district-records were new. 



The best plant in my list is Poa palustris, L-, of which the 

 only previously-known British station was the banks of the 

 River Tay below Perth, where it was found by Mr. Wm. 

 Barclay in 1889 {Journ. Bot., xxvii. 273, 1889). It has a wide 

 distribution in Europe, from Scandinavia to Turkey, and from 

 France to Mid-Russia ; so that its rarity in the British Isles, 

 not its occurrence there, is the remarkable feature. Poly- 

 gonum mite is likewise an addition to the Irish flora. Its 

 European distribution is almost as wide as that of the 

 ^-..^-' ' - - -.. ,^---"0^1 



