1907. Knowi.ES & O'Brikn. — Flora of Shanid. 187 



There are only three of the plants recorded by Mr. Stewart 

 from our district that we were not able to re-find. Two of 

 these — Castalia speciosa and Psamma arena? ia, are given from 

 " several places between Askeaton and Foynes." We made a 

 pretty exhaustive search for these without success. The Cas- 

 talia may have occurred in some pond that is now filled up or 

 drained, but there is no likely ground for the Psamma, which 

 is essentially a grass of the sandy sea-coast. We have not 

 met with it anywhere in the barony. The third is Polystichum 

 aculeatum, "roadside, Foynes." We have not seen this fern 

 anywhere, but P. angulare, not noted by Mr. Stewart, is 

 common, especially off the limestone. 



In 1899, Mr. Arthur Somerville spent some days at Foynes 

 making a list of plants for Mr. Praeger's ' Irish Topographical 

 Botany,' and in the same year Mr. Praeger himself, under the 

 guidance of Mr. Donough O'Brien, made a hurried tour of the 

 crags and skimmed the botanical cream off the Mullough 

 district. The Limerick Field Club, too, have from time to 

 time made incursions into the barony, and the plants found 

 by them have been published in 'Irish Topographical Botany ; ; 

 and lastly, Mr. R. A. Phillips has lately found Rosa obtusifolia 

 var. fro?idosa, a rose new to Ireland, on the shales and grits 

 west of Foynes, and several other plants which are given in 

 the list of records below. 



Much the most interesting feature of the barony of Shanid 

 is the striking contrast between the flora of the limestone dis- 

 trict and that of the shales and Coal-measures. Taking the 

 limestone first. As we enter the barony by rail from Limerick, 

 the river on the right spreads its mud through many winding 

 creeks and hollows in the low-lying and uneven beds of the 

 Carboniferous limestone. The borders of these creeks and 

 the mud-flats along the shore from Aughinish to Fo3^nes offer 

 very interesting studies in plant associations. The slimy mud, 

 covered at high tide, is studded with green seaweeds, Salicornia, 

 Thrift, Suseda, &c, and the Grass-wrack grows abundantly. 

 Higher up on the shore, on the part between the marks of the 

 spring and ordinary tides, Glyceria viaritinta, Sea Lavender, 

 the Sea Aster, Sea Beet, Sand Spurry, Matricaria i?wdora, and 

 Artemisia maritima flourish. Here, too, Glyceiia Foncaudi 

 grows, a grass new to Ireland discovered by us in June, 1903, 



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