390 Proceedings of the Royal Irish A cademy. 



of the larger rivers, such as the Dnieper, Danube, Po, Ehone, Garonne, Loire, 

 Rhine, Elbe, &c., and on the margins of lai-ge lakes ; that it is a plant fre- 

 quenting a unlfoim habitat — namely, either fi-esh-water swamps in estuarine 

 lands which are occasionally overflowed by the tide, or the flooded niargins of 

 lakes and rivers. 



In England Lcucojum acstivum grows under similar conditions. Certainly 

 it was in such a situation that its discoverer, Curtis, found it, as will be seen 

 from the following accoimt taken from the " Flora Londineusis," vol. v., 

 published 1788: — "Lcucojum aestivuni is found undoubtedly u'nld betwixt 

 Greenwich and Woolirich, about half a mile below the former, close by the 

 Thames side, just above high-water mark, growing (where no garden, in all 

 probability, could ever have existed) with Arvado PhmgmUcs, Calilm 

 pahustris, Ocnanthc crocatn, and Angelica si/lvcsiris : — Pkofessor Jacquin, 

 who figures it in the Flora Austriaca, and SCOPOU, in his Flora Camiolica, 

 describe it as growing in similar situations ; their words are, ' Crcscit in 

 pratis vdis ft sub jtfdustrihi'.^.' It has also been foimd in the Isle of Dogs, 

 which is the opposite shore." He goes on to say : " How so ornamental a 

 plant, growing in so public a place, could have escaped the prying eyes of the 

 many Botanists who have resided in London for such a length of time seems 

 strange. For my own part, I am perfectly satisfied of its being a native of 

 our island, and have no doubt but it will be found in many other parts of it." 



That Lcucojum ncftinim has been overlooked for so long in these islands 

 does not seem surprising when we remember that it flowers early in the season, 

 and that the situations in whicli it grows are wet, unpleasant, and often 

 inaccessible at that time of the year ; also that botanists were wont to delay 

 their expeditions to such places until the sim was high in the skies at the 

 end of June or the beginning of July. When the rank grasses and reeds of 

 the river-swamps have developed, it is quite impossible to recognize the plant. 

 We ourselves have experienced the greatest difficulty in finding marked 

 clumps. 



Curtis's prediction was fulfilled ; for in Watson's " New Botanist's Guide," 

 publishe<l 1835, we find the Snowflake recorded from "Kent, Suflblk, Bucks, 

 Berks, Oxford, Warwick, Westmorland, Durham, Northumberland (?)." In the 

 IocaI floras more particulars are given about the habitats of the plant. In 

 Kent it is " river-sides and adjacent marshes " ; in Oxfordshire, " moist 

 meadows and marshes near rivers," "osier holts and shady places by the 

 Thames side"; in Sussex, "wet meadows"; in Dorset, "wet meadows and 

 ditches " ; in Middlesex, " wet marshes and rivers " ; in Northumberland, " a 

 mill dam near Heaton " ; in Westmorland, " a small island in the river about 

 three miles soutli of Kendal " ; in .South Devon, " a willow plot near Totnes " — 



