112 PLANTS FOUND IN* KERRY. 



submerged form," and about which there was then some doubt; 

 however, after examining last year's series, Mr. Bennett seems satisfied 

 the plant is rightly named. It is probably the form which Syme 

 called " P. poly ejoni Julius v. pseudo-fluitans," and is a common plant 

 in most of the Kerry mountain streams. Another visit was also 

 paid to the Eiver Laune, a regular storehouse of puzzling forms. A 

 plant gathered in the river near its exit from the lake Mr. Bennett 

 names P. nitens var. latifolius Tis. Seeing this curious form 

 growing on the spot, it seemed hard to resist the conviction that 

 the plant was a hybrid, with P. perfoliatus (which is the most 

 abundant pondweed in this portion of the river) as one of its 

 parents. Another form, gathered lower down the river, Mr. 

 Bennett names P. nitens var. salicif alius (Fr. ?), and says that 

 some of my specimens so exactly match others gathered by Mr. C. 

 Bailey in Scotland, near Oban, that they might have been taken off 

 the same plant ; this form is very abundant in the river. Of the 

 above two plants, both fresh and dried examples were sent to 

 Croydon. The chief object, however, of this visit to the Laune 

 was to gather fresh specimens of the plant sent by me to Mr. 

 Bennett in 1888, and thought by him to be a form of P. Zizii. I 

 had gathered this near the Killorglin end of the Laune, about 

 sixteen miles frorn the lake, and though last summer I descended 

 the river six or seven miles, I could find nothing to quite match 

 the P. Zizii form, its place being here taken by P. nitens var. 

 salicifolius. Mr. Bennett sums up the differences between these 

 two plants by pointing out that while the peduncles and spikes 

 (immature) of the 1888 plant belong to the lueens type, those of the 

 1889 plant are of the nitens type ; and that while the leaves of the 

 former are only narrowed into the stem, those of the latter are cer- 

 tainly amplexicaul. I notice also that the long narrow leaves of 

 the 1888 plant often have the lueens " mucro," while the leaves of the 

 1889 plant have not. I have little doubt these three Potamogetons 

 are hybrids, and that several interesting problems in this trouble- 

 some genus are waiting to be worked out in the River Laune. I 

 am glad to learn Mr. Bennett has succeeded in growing some of the 

 plants I sent him last summer, so we may hope for some light on 

 the subject before long. 



Several interesting Carices were also gathered, including some 

 apparent hybrids. More Carex aquatilis Wahl. was discovered 

 round the head of Caragh Lake, and what seems the same plant 

 was found growing abundantly along a small boggy stream among 

 the mountains, near the head of the Upper Lake, Killarney. The 

 fertile spikes of this plant were erect, and I could see no veins on 

 the fruit ; but some of the specimens gathered appear to come very 

 near to C. acuta, while the whole plant was much greener and 

 stronger than the Caragh Lake C. aquatilis. A form of G. pracox 

 Jacq. was found, in which the stalk of the lowest spike sometimes 

 exceeds two inches in length, with the sheathing base of the bract 

 over half an inch long ; in one specimen gathered, the lowest 

 spike springs from a bract near the base of the stem, and its stalk 

 of fully ten inches brings the spike to nearly its usual position in 



