Clare Island Survey — Phanerogamia. 10 1 1 



Shade Plants. — Geum urbanum, Asperula odorata, C'repis paludosa, 

 Nepeta Glechoma, Arum macidatum, Carex remota, Bromms giganteus. The 

 scarcity of trees and absence of hedges is naturally followed by a scarcity of 

 their dependent species. 



Hydrophytes and Hygeophytes. — Hippuris vulgaris, EpiloUum hirsu- 

 tism, Sium angustifolium, Bidens cemua, Typha latifolia, Sparganium simplex, 

 Potamogeton perfoliatus. The rarity of sheets of water, and the small size 

 of those which occur, must be held responsible for the absence of these 

 water-plants. The great exposure, so inimical to the taller herbaceous plants, 

 may have assisted in preventing such species as the Typha and Epilobium 

 (both of which are very wide-spread plants) from becoming established. The 

 absence of such a lover of wet ditches as Bidens cemua is difficult to explain. 



Xerophytes. — Erophila vidgaris, Reseda Zuteola, Sagina apetala, Linaria 

 Cymbalaria. This list is not long, because many xerophytes are already rare 

 throughout West Mayo, and do not, therefore, come within our category. 

 The rarity of sandy ground makes the absence of the first two not unexpected, 

 and of mortar-built walls the last. Under this head may be listed also 

 Salicornia herbacea and Suaeda maritima, for which no suitable habitat of 

 saline mud or gravel is available on the islands. 



Unaccountably Absent. — Some of the remaining plants may be so 

 classed, as they are widespread species in the west, and as the conditions they 

 require would appear to be abundantly supplied on the islands. Such are 

 Medicago Iwpulma, Melampyrum pratense, Rumex conglomeratus (see note, 

 p. 10), R. nemorosus, Carex hirta, Equisetum sylvaticum. 



It may be pointed out that in this list of absentees we find very few 

 plants of those classes which we should expect from the general features of 

 the islands to be well represented there. The sea- rocks, the peaty fields and 

 grass-lands, and the heaths, which are the prevailing habitats on the islands, 

 have a flora nearly as full as that of the same habitats on the adjoining 

 mainland. It would seem, therefore, that all sections of the mainland flora 

 have fully exploited the islands, absence of species being accounted for by 

 absence of habitat. 



It is not necessary to enter into any detailed description here of the flora 

 of the neighbouring islands (Achill, Inishturk, Inishbofin) which have been 

 on previous pages (pp. 3, 5-8) compared with that of Clare Island, since they 

 are sufficiently described in the papers to which the reader is referred at the 

 bottom of p. 3. But reference may be made to the flora of a few of the 

 uninhabited islets that lie near Clare Island, the most remote of which is the 

 group of rocks known as The Bills. 



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