254 DISCOVERY OF SCIRPUS PARVULUS IN IRELAND. 
journal which Dr. Milde does not appear to have seen, as he gives 
1858 for the date of his own name, Schleicheri. Hence, as a variety, 
the plant must hereafter retain the name of Equisetum hyemale, var. 
Moorei. 
Glasnevin, July 4th, 1868. 
DISCOVERY OF SCIRPUS PARVULUS, R. et S, IN 
IRELAND. 
By ALEX. G, Mort, F.L.S. 
A few days ago I had the pleasure of finding Scirpus parvulus, R.et S., 
growing rather plentifully on soft mud at the mouth of the river Ovoca, 
just below the bridge of Arklow. It grows quite by itself on the muddy 
shallows which are overflowed at high water, giving a pale green tint 
to their surface, and forming dense beds of tiny, green tufted stems, 
about an inch high, its slender rhizomes interlaced and buried deeply 
in the mud. In habit it is quite unlike any other British Scirpus, for 
though it has been compared to S. acicularis, its stems are stouter and 
more fistulose, and its spikes of a pale greenish or whitish colour, 
something like those of S. fluitans. Our plant answers remarkably well, 
especially in the hyaline and cellular structure of the lower part of the 
stems, to the description given by Lloyd in the ‘ Flore de l'Ouest de 
la France.’ There is a fair figure in Reichenbach’s Icones Flor. Germ. 
tome viii. fig. 706, and a better in the ‘ Flora Danica,’ xiii. 2161. 
I believe that Scirpus parvulus has not been gathered in Britain by 
any other botanist since it was first found by the Rev. G. E. Smith on 
a mud flat at Lymington, in Hampshire. It is treated as extinct by 
Mr. Watson, and by the author of the British Flora. Mr. Bentham 
omits the species altogether, and Dr. Bromfield and many other bota- 
nists have sought for it unsuccessfully in the original station, so that 
I believe its discovery at Arklow will be welcome to English no less 
than to Irish botanists. 
Glasnevin, July 8th, 1868. 5 
[Coloured figure and full description will be given shortly.—Knrron.] 
