170 EXGLISn BOTANY. 



sandhills at Mullaghmore, and rocks at Grlencar, co. Sligo ; sandhills 

 at Benone, Magilligan,. Deny. 



Yar. /3, banks of the Dee at Durra, Kincardineshire ; by the Royal 

 Canal at Dublin ; east of Clonsella Station, and a little below the 

 bridge at Cross Duns, near Glasnevin ; canal at Mullingar ; margins 

 of the pool of water on the Hunting Course field west of Castle 

 Taylor ; and shore of Loch Bulard, near Roundstone, Galway ; and 

 perhaps shore of Loch Carra, Mayo. 



Yar. y in ditches by the side of the Lake of Killarney, at Mucruss, 

 County Kerry. 



England, Scotland, Ireland. Late Summer, Autumn. 



A very variable plant, with stems from 3 or 4 inches to 2 feet long, 

 and from the thickness of a darning-needle to that of a crow-quill or 

 more ; they are generally more or less decumbent, especially when 

 growing on sandhills ; usually they are unbranched, but I have 

 specimens from Wallasey sandhills upon which there are branches 

 from many of the internodes ; these branches are either solitary or in 

 pairs, and in the latter case opposite, or very rarely on the same side 

 of the stem. The branches occasionally terminate in spikes, and 

 indeed seem to be more like secondary stems than anything else. 

 The sheaths vary considerably in length and in colour, but are always 

 enlarged upwards, and then again slightly contracted ; the teeth are 

 also very variable, even in specimens from the same locality ; they 

 are usually rather short and blunt, with broad white margins, and 

 are generally abruptly acuminated into a long white setaceous point, 

 which either falls off or is very liable to be broken off. Among the 

 specimens I have from TVallasey sandhills, collected by Mr. H. S. 

 Fisher in 1871, there are some in which the teeth of the sheaths are 

 triangular and gradually acuminated into subulate points, and have 

 only narrow white. margins, though others collected at the same place 

 and at the same date have teeth of the ordinary form. 



Yar. /3 scarcely appears to pass insensibly into the ordinary form. 

 The plant from the Dublin Canal I have cultivated for about five 

 years from roots sent me by the late Dr. D. Moore ; these have 

 remained stouter and more erect than those of var. genuinum grown 

 beside them, and divide below ground, while in var. a the stems come 

 in tufts from the branches of the rootstock above ground ; the 

 stems, however, do not exceed 1 foot high, while in the Dublin Canal 

 they are twice as long, probably growing more luxuriantly from being 

 in the water. The plants from the banks of the Dee, Kincardine- 

 shire, are intermediate between the Dublin Canal plant and the var. 

 genuinum, but they have longer teeth and blacker sheaths. Specimens 

 from the bridge of Potarch, Kincardineshire, collected by Mr. J. Sim 

 in 1871, have stout stems, with short almost wholly black sheaths, and 



