The Killarney Woods. 49 
and locally even dominant we find one of the most interesting woody 
plants of Ireland, the strawberry-tree, Arbutus Unedo, directing our 
thoughts to the West Mediterranean, This species embellishes the 
Killarney woods, not only as a shrub of 3-5 m. in height, as we are 
used to seeing it in Corsica, but as a tree of considerable height. 
The largest tree I saw, I judged to be 10 m. high, and this had a 
circumference of 180 cm. round the stem, taken 50 cm. above the 
ground, and 110 cm. taken at a height of lm. Another laurel-leaved 
plant, Rhododendron ponticum, catches your eye by its luxuriance. 
It is not native, but it spreads sub-spontaneously and evidently feels 
quite at home here. The many epiphytes give a nearly tropical 
aspect to the woods; the oaks bear epiphytically Polypodium vulgare, 
Geranium Robertianum, Ilex Aquifolium and Saxifraga umbrosa. 
Even Rhododendron ponticum ascends the lofty habitat of a branch 
of Prunus lusitanica, a planted tree native in the Canary woods. 
Very striking also are the masses of the thin-leaved Hymenophyllum 
tunbridgense and peltatum; and in this fern-sward we find a plant 
of Sedum anglicum ! 
When we look at the luxuriant heathy undergrowth, other 
countries come to mind. Calluna bushes I measured had a height of 
about 2 m., the tallest I found was 220 cm. high, giving the illusion of 
a “Monte verde” of the Canaries, or of the mountain heaths of 
Corsica, where Erica arborea and other species cover great tracts of 
country. 
How shall we account for all these phenomena? Let me give 
the plant-list I made in this wood and then try to find an explanation. 
The Oak-holly-wood near the Upper Lake at Killarney had the 
following composition : (the underlying rock was Old Red Sand- 
stone). 
Quercus sessiliflora, a’. Hedera Helix, a. 
Ilex Aquifolium, sd. Viburnum Opulus, o. 
Arbutus Unedo, f. Taxus baccata, o. 
Rhododendron ponticum 
(subspontaneous), f. 
Hymenophyllum tunbridgense. Hymenophyllum peltatum, 
Betula pubescens. Prunus spinosa. 
Alnus rotundifolia. Corylus Avellana. 
Salix cinerea. Sorbus aucuparia. 
ıd.=dominant; sd.=sub-dominant ; a=abundant; f=frequent; o=occasional. 
K 
