i^6 The Irish Naturalist. [Od , 



Portmarnock and Malahide, and found the plant flowering 

 and fruiting at both places. At Portmarnock it could be 

 traced along the dr}- banks over a considerable area, but 

 flowering very sparingly. At Malahide it appeared to be 

 confined to the limited area in which I had first noticed it ; 

 here most of the flowers assumed the peculiar greenish- 

 yellow colour that is characteristic of the plant, ' others 

 being purple, while at Portmarnock almost all the flowers 

 were bright purple, a few only being greenish-purple. Though 

 there could be no doubt as to the identity of the plant, 

 specimens were sent to Mr. Arthur Bennett, who promptly 

 confirmed my determination, adding the remark, " closely 

 approaching in habit the wild Suffolk plant as I have 

 gathered it." 



Two points in connection with this plant and its occurrence 

 in Co. Dublin invite comment — its standing (i) as a good 

 species, and (2) as a native. As regards its specific distinct- 

 ness, and its relationships, botanists appear to be much at 

 variance. Fries^ first described it as a species. Hooker and 

 Arnott^ treated it as a variety of 31. falcata ; Reichenbach^, 

 and Grenier and Godron^, considered it a hybrid between 

 M. falcata and M. saliva ; Wallroth'' and Koch^' called it M^ 

 falcata /3. versicolor. Sj'me^ states that he never saw the plant 

 alive, and therefore " adopts the middle course" of giving it 

 sub'Specific rank under M. falcata. Babington treated it as a 

 good species in the last edition of his " Manual," and the 

 same course is followed in the latest edition of *' I^ondon 

 Catalogue." 



Discussing the question of its hybridity, and Fries' emphatic 

 denial of the possibility of this, Syme states that in England 

 it frequently occurs where M. saliva is absent. A similar 

 argument against its hybrid origin might now be advanced 

 as regards its Irish stations, for M. falcata is unknown in 

 Ireland except as a rare casual, and the other supposed parent, 

 M., saliva, only occurs occasionally where sown. Indeed, the 

 occurrence in some quantity of a hybrid where one parent is 

 absent, and the other is a fleeting plant of cultivation, strikes 

 one as very improbable. 



* Mant. III. '^ Brit. Flora^ ed. 8. 3 _/,■/. Genu. Eocciin. ^ Flore de Frame, I. 

 '5 Sched. Crit. ^ Synopsis Fl. Germ, el Helv., ed, 2. ' Efigl. BoL, ed. 3. 



