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VIII. 



ON THE CLAIM OF THE SNOWFLAKE {LEUCOJUM AESTIVUM) 

 TO BE NATIVE IN IRELAND. 



By MISS M. C. KNOWLES and E. A. PHILLIPS. 



[communicated by R. LLOYD PEAEGER.] 



(Plates XX.-XXII.) 



Read June 13. Ordered for Pulilitation June 15. Published July 28, 1910. 



At the time the second edition of " Gybele Hibemica" was published in 1898, 

 Leucojicm aestivum was known to Irish botanists from the single station at 

 Maemine Junction, Co. Wexford, where the Eev. E. S. Marshall had 

 discovered it the year before. Messrs. Colgan and Scully therefore, con- 

 sidering that theii' knowledge of its Irish distribution was insufficient to 

 justify its admission to the iiora, relegated the plant to the appendix of that 

 book, among the excluded species. In the following year, Mr. E. D. O'Brien 

 recorded it fi'om some unembanked land liy the Sliannon on the Clare side of 

 the river near the Lax Weu', about two miles from Limerick city. On the 

 strength of this adtUtional locality, Mr. Praeger included it ui his "Irish 

 Topogi'aphical Botany," published in 1900, with a double dagger before its 

 name, sigulfyiug " probably introduced." 



Since the publication of these two books, Lcucojum aestimim has been foimd 

 in several other Irish stations. Its distribution on the Shannon, where it 

 proves to be abundant, has been largely extended, and a good deal of informa- 

 tion about the plant in general has accumulated. We propose to bring all this, 

 together with the results of our own investigations, into one paper, so that 

 botanists, having the full data before them, may be able to fonn an opinion as 

 to the standing of the plant in Ireland. 



It may be well at the outset to say a few words about the plant itself. 



Lcucojum aestivum possesses a large bidb, rooting perhaps 10 inches to a 

 foot deep among the stools of willows and marsh reeds in swamps and ditches 

 in the estuaries of rivers, and in marshy meadows along their banks. It also 

 occurs in .smiUar situations at storm-level on the shores of inland lakes and 

 rivers. The leaves are hibernal. The flower scapes are developed, in IreJand, 

 early in May, growing to a height of about 18 inches to 3 feet over the surface, 



B.I. A. PROC, VOL. XXVIII., SECT. B. [8 Z^] 



