SOME NORTH-EAST IRELAND RUBI 881 



E. leucostachya Schleicli. 37. Lurgan, Prcmjer ! Scarva ; near 

 Newry. 38. Aghaderg ; Anacloan ; Banbridge. Apparently com- 

 mon, though often uncharacteristic, in 37 and 38. 39. Cave Hill, 

 Belfast, &c., Shoolhred ! 



* Egregii. 



This group, it will be seen, is more highly represented than any 

 other. 



R. Lettii, sp. (or subsp.) nov. " R. Gehrtii Frider., Tjettil 

 subsp. nov.," Wats. Bot. Exch. Club 1900-1901 Rep. p. 14. Stem 

 high-arcldwi at first, stout, bluntly angled, striate, (ilaurous, clothed 

 with long fine shining hairs; its aclcles very unequally scattered and 

 stalked glands very rare or absent. Fricldes mostly subequal and 

 nearly confined to angles, remarkably compressed and straight, hug, 

 slender, nearly patent, hairy, occasionally gland-tipped. Leaves 

 usually 5-nate-pedate, concave, pale greyish-green, very soft beneath 

 with close shining hairs, often greyish-felted at first ; petioles long, 

 with many unequal partly gland -tipped organs. Leaflets somewhat 

 imbricate at first ; terminal slightly obovate, with fairly long 

 cuspidate-acuminate point, subcordate base, and compound teeth ; 

 basal shortly stalked. Panicle long, cylindrical, lax below, and 

 usually only slightly narrowed at the top ; about one-third ultra- 

 axillary; the lowest branches moderately long and nearly erect. Pcachis 

 u'ith very close grey felt under the long hairs, armed like the stem, 

 though usually much more glandular and aciculate, with some of 

 the long slefider prickles gland-tipped ; the prickles almost invariably 

 straight and mostly patent or subpatent. Sepals (like rachis and 

 pedicels) remarkably grey-felted, refiexed, often long-pointed, usually 

 quite unarmed and eglandular. Petals narrow, white or faintly 

 pinkish. Stamens exceeding styles. Young carpels somewhat 

 hairy. Fruit abundant and excellent. 



While recalling R. Gelertii among the Kgregii, and in earlier 

 groups B. Questierii and B. micans, this seems most closely allied to 

 B. criniger Linton, from which it may, however, without difficulty be 

 distinguished by the long remarkably compressed slender prickles, 

 the somewhat obovate termiual leaflet with more finely pointed 

 teeth and less gradually acuminate point, and the cylindrical panicle 

 with stronger gland-tipped organs, shorter more ascending lower 

 branches, and broader top. The extraordinary greyness of the 

 whole plant is also a very marked feature. 



Under Canon Lett's guidance I saw it in great abundance in 

 Aghaderg, Anacloan, and Banbridge parishes aloug the western 

 boundary of Co. Down, and in Co. Armagh plentifully at Scarva, 

 and more sparingly near Newry. Mr. Waddell has sent it to me 

 from Saintfield, and he and Canon Lett are agreed in calling it 

 "a very common Co. Down plant." I know nothing exactly like 

 it in Great Britain, though the Rev. A. Ley has found a form which 

 recalls it in Bolston Wood, Herefordshire. 



[R. Borceanus Genev. 38. Aghaderg Glebe (locality now de- 

 stroyed), hb. Lett ! Probably this species, but, if so, untypical in 

 the scarcity of the stem-pricklets and in the rather prickly panicle.] 



B. cinerosus Rogers. ^''38. Caskum, Aghaderg ; in one spot, 



