1857.1 FEEJiilE ISLANDS AND TlIEIll VEGETATION. 115 



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SPIKANTHES GEMMIPARA. 

 By Prof. Lindley. [From the Gardeners' Chronicle.) 



This rare Irish Orcliis, discovered near Cork as long ago as 1810, 

 was published by Sir J. E. Smith under the name of Neottia 

 gemmipara, and was figured under the same name in the ' Sup- 

 plement to English Botany.' Dr. Lindley, in his ' Genera and 

 Species of Orchidaceous Plants/ referred the plant to the genus 

 Spiranthes, with the remark, that it so much resembles S. ro- 

 manzoffiana, an Unalashka plant, that he could scarcely doubt 

 the identity of the two. Subsequently Mr. Babington, in a 

 paper read before the Linnsean Society, referred the Irish plant 

 unhesitatingly to the American S. cernua. These three conflict- 

 ing suggestions concerning the plant were on record by British 

 botanists : — First, Smith's, who compares it with S. autumnalis, 

 still regarding it distinct; second, the author's (Dr. Lindley), 

 that it was probably S. romanzoffiana ; and third, Babington' s, 

 that it was S. cernua. 



The author stated, that at a recent examination of the Neot- 

 tian Orchids he had occasion to reconsider these different, views 

 in order to ascertain the true relationship of the Irish plant, and 

 his conclusions were these, — that the identification of the Irish 

 S. gemmipara with S. cernua is to be regarded as a mistake ; 

 that the Irish plant must be admitted as a perfectly distinct 

 species, peculiar, as far as at, present knowu, to a small district, _.. 

 in_Ireland. He first stated his conviction that the affinity of the 

 species was much closer with ^. autumnalis than with S. cernua ; 

 although distinct from the former by its dense three-rowed spike^ 

 its leafy stem, scarcely longer than the radical leaves, its short 

 pyriform ovary, and the very broad base to its lip. 



FEEJEE ISLANDS AND THEIR VEGETATION. 



(An Extract from the Proceedings of the Dublin University Zoo- 

 logical and Botanical Association.^ 



This cluster, which forms a portion of the Eriendly Islands, so 

 called on the lucus a non lucendo principle, possesses a tropical 

 vegetation, as may be inferred from its situation. 



The wood- and forest-trees are ornamented with what are called 



