i9i8. pRAEGER. — Sofuc County Down Plants. iiy 



Last July, in the course of a week spent at Portaferry, 

 I made an attempt to determine the range along the coast 

 of these rare trefoils. The season was again unfavourable. 

 A severe drought had the country in its grip, and the rocky 

 knolls which experience had shown to be the chosen habitat 

 of these plants was occupied by brown dead vegetation, 

 dry as tinder. T. striatum, on account of its comparatively 

 large heads, was fairly eas}^ to see, and it was found in 

 five stations, growing either on glaciated knolls of Silurian 

 rock or on raised beach gravels well turfed over. Its range 

 is now extended as far as Kearne\^ in the Ards, and probably 

 other stations further north will be found linking up its 

 Antrim station at Whitehead — Ballymacormick Point, for 

 instance, would appea.r a very likel}^ spot for it. The 

 problem of finding the other two Trefoils was more diflficult, 

 on account of the state of the ground and their inconspicuous 

 appearance, but by dint of hands-and-knees work the 

 position of T. flli forme as an LUster native was confirmed 

 by the finding of three quite satisfactory stations on rocky 

 ground amid a purely native flora. Trigonella alone defied 

 all efforts to find it, but it seems likely enough that under 

 more favourable circumstances it will be found. 



For the rest, my observations on the plants of the area 

 went to verify the facts set down in the two papers quoted 

 above, \\ithout adding ver}- much to them. Most of the 

 rarer plants were seen in the stations there quoted, and 

 some in fresh stations as given below. Crambe maritima 

 is at present less abundant than formerly in South Bay, 

 four large and six small plants forming this colony at 

 present. Glyceria festucaeformis is as abundant as ever on 

 the islets in Strangford Lough, and v.rs seen also in the 

 original station in Marlfield Bay^ and in ^Tr. \\'addell's 

 station half a mile north of Portaferry. 2 With regard to 

 the comparison made in m}^ Ards paper on the floras of 

 Ards and of Lecale, Orchis pyramidalis was added to the 

 flora of the former, and G-'ranitcm columhinum to that of 

 the latter. 



"^ Irish Nat., xii., 255. ^ Irish Nat., xiv., 19 



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