1854] Visit to Portmarnock Strand. 47 



saw Cerastium arvense, Carduus tenuiflorus, Sisymbrium 

 sophia, plenty of poppies among the corn, and just after 

 passing through Baldoyle, I caught sight of some close- 

 growing reddish heads ; when alighting, I was charmed 

 at pouncing upon a thick crop of Blysmus rufus growing 

 close to the water's edge, in wet sandy rushy ground, 

 along with Carex extensa, Glaux maritima, Juncus mari- 

 timus, Triglochin, &c. This was the first time I had met 

 with this curious plant, and it looks, a little way off, very 

 like Carex intermedia, but when gathered you could never 

 mistake it. Some heads were terminal, others were over- 

 topped to two or three times their length by green grooved 

 bracts, and one head, besides the bract, was furnished with 

 a pedicel of its own, i inch long. The number of heads, 

 from their abundance, quite gave a colour to the ground ; 

 it was well seeded already. Further on we observed 

 plenty of Anthriscus vulgaris growing in the sand-walls 

 that bordered the road : Lycopsis arvensis, Cynoglossum, 

 and Cochlearia officinalis were also noticed. A drive of 

 some miles further brought us down through the sandhills 

 to the very beach, and we set to work for our two hours as 

 fast as possible. First, the handsome yellow violet (Cur- 

 tisii of Mackay, but evidently only a variety of tricolor) 

 was seen every where here and there; Ammophila of course 

 abundant, but I could not see Elymus ; Cerastium tetran- 

 drum, Galium verum, Phleum arenarium, Festuca rubra, 

 Kceleria cristata plentifully, Thalictrum minus again, 

 Rosa spinosissima, Festuca uniglumis, Euphorbia paralias 

 (no portlandica), Ononis in plenty, Lotus corniculatis, Eryn- 

 gium, Honkeneja, Carex arenaria, Papaver argemone, 

 Salix fusca plentifully in the low hollows, where I looked 

 in vain for Pyrola, as I had seen it in similar localities 

 near Liverpool ; Trifolium repens, T. pratense, Cyno- 

 glossum. Shells Bulimus acutus and Helix virgata ; no 

 pisana ; pisana, however, is found in plenty somewhere 

 near Dublin. Altogether, I was a little disappointed in 

 the variety of botanical productions, but, perhaps, there 

 may be better ground further from the sea ; our ramble 

 extended to no great distance from the shore. The little 

 blue butterfly, Polyommatus alsus, was flitting about, 



