I902. . ^ i8i 



SOME PIvANTS SEEN ALONG A COUNTY DOWN 



RAILWAY. 



BY J. H. DAVIES. 



In the course of recent months I have had occasion frequently 

 to journey over part of the branch line of railway from Scarva 

 to Ballyroney, and sometimes to wait for the train at Lenaderg, 

 which, as a goods-siding on that line for the accommo- 

 dation of adjoining bleaching fields, is of some importance. 

 Though used by passengers, 3^et for some reason known only 

 to the official mind, it is not recognised as a passenger station, 

 and the name does not appear in the time-table. 



In April and May one could not stand on the exposed, 

 gra,velled platform there without noticing the profusion of 

 Sisymbrium Thadianum and Erophila vulgaris, neither of these 

 crucifers, as is known, being by any means frequent in the 

 North-east. 'I hey were found to occur along the line for a 

 considerable distance, also at the borders of neighbouring 

 lanes, and probably extend much bej^ond the parts examined. 

 They appeared again at Scarva, some miles southward, both 

 at the County Down border, and in the conterminous County 

 of Armagh. In the slight effort made to ascertain their range 

 at Lenaderg, Cystopteris fragilis was met with in crevices of a 

 shady wall, a " low-ground" locality; the fern being a very 

 small and unusual form, from base of stipe to apex of frond 

 not exceeding three inches, and differing in other respects 

 from the typical plant. The form is unknown to my pterido- 

 logical friend, Mr. W. H. Phillips, of Holywood, for whom, 

 not without qualms of conscience, for there is not much of it, 

 I rooted up two or three plants for cultivation in his fernery. 

 These he will keep under notice, and afterwards favour me 

 with some observations thereon. 



At Scarva Ceterach officinarimi was seen on a high wall of a 

 bridge across the stream dividing the two counties. There 

 also, were gathered two rare mosses, Barbula lurida and 

 Orthotrichum strami7ieu?n, the former new to the northern 

 flora. A note of these, and of some other new and scarce Irish 

 mosses, recently observed in the North-east, may be given at 

 another time. 



