28o The Irish Naturalist [Oct., 



NOTES. 



BOTANY. 



PHANEROGAMS, 



County Down Plants. 



Cycling last month through Co. Down, a few locally uncommon 

 plants were noted. The best was Typha angustifolia, which grows with 

 T. latifolia in the mill-dam by the shore at Bishop's Mill, three miles 

 north of Portaferry ; Torilis nodosa grew near by. Papaver Rhceas was 

 seen about the railway at Downpatrick, Raphanus maritimtis about 

 Portavogie and Ballyhalbert. Siuvi erectutn was seen near Strangford, 

 and also /uncus glaucus ; Rumex Hydrolapathtun at Killough, Beta inaritima 

 at Portaferry, and Koda-ia cristata at Ballyhalbert. 



R. IvI^OYD PraEGER. 



Dryas octopetala in Co. Antrim. 



In the Irish Natnralist for May last there was a brief reference to the 

 re-discovery of Dryas octopetala in the County of Antrim ; since then I 

 have, through the courtesy of Rev. H. W. Lett, been introduced to the 

 spot where it was found by him in 1884. The occurrence of the Mountain 

 Avens in this county is of much interest to northern botanists. The first 

 discovery of this plant in the North of Ireland was b}- Templeton, on 

 17th August, 1796, on the rocks of Benevenagh, County of Derry. 

 Mackay, in his Catalogue of Irish Plants, 1825, and again in Flora 

 Hibernica, 1836, ignores Templeton's discover}^ in Derry. He attributes 

 this find to Dr. Moore, but says "Mr. Templeton finds it in County 

 Antrim" {Cat. Ir.), "County Antrim, Mr. Templeton" [Flor. Hit.). The 

 compilers of the Flora of North-east Ireland on examining the Templeton 

 MSS. could not find any note of his having gathered the Dryas in 

 Antrim, and assumed that his record for Derry had, by Mackay, been 

 inadvertently transferred to Antrim ; I still remain of this opinion, and 

 thus Mr. L,ett's discovery came as a surprise. 



The plant does not grow on Sallagh Braes, properly so called, but on 

 the cliffs north of Knock Dhu, a hill of small extent which is interposed 

 between Sallagh Braes in the townland of Sallagh and the cliffs which 

 face the north in the townland of Drain's Bog. Knock Dhu has a 

 considerable elevation, rising from 1,100 feet at the top of the cliffs to 

 1,260 at the summit, the botanical interest being centred in the crags 

 both north and south. On turning the shoulder of Knock Dhu Dryas 

 soon appears scattered over the precipitous rocks from near their base 



