BOTANICAL FEATUKES OF IRELAND xxix 



(2). Plants of sea-rocks, such as Silene maritivia, Spergularia 

 rupestns, Crithmum maritimum, Inula crithmoides, Statice occiden- 

 talis, Armeria maritima, Asplenium marinum, 



(3). Plants of the sands, such as Glaucium flavum, Cakile mari- 

 tima, Enjngium maritimum, Calijstegia Soldanella, Salsola Kali, 

 Euphorbia Paralias, Carecc arenaria, Psamma arenaria. 



The first of these groups is both the largest and the best- 

 marked ; very few of the characteristic plants of the salt-marsh 

 are found under other conditions ; they are true halophytes. Four 

 of the most conspicuous plants of the sea-rocks — Silene maritima, 

 Cochlearia officinalis, Armeria maritinia, Plantago maritima — reappear 

 at high elevations on mountains. In Ireland the mountain-groups 

 on which these grow are confined to the south, west, and north, 

 and we seek them in vain on the highlands of Wexford, Wicklow, 

 Louth, and Down. We have in the west, too, some interesting 

 examples of the occurrence inland at low levels of typical sea-coast 

 plants. Silene maritima and Asplenium marinum grow by the Kil- 

 larney lakes, a few feet above the water-level (about 70 feet over 

 the sea). Carex extensa grows by Lough Corrib near Oughterard ; 

 Carex distans has been found on Lough Erne, also at Tuam 200 feet 

 above sea-level ; and Plantago maritima is abundant, not only over 

 all the low-lyiftg limestone country around the head of Galway Bay, 

 for many miles inland, but around Loughs Mask, Carra, Cullin, 

 and Conn, and even on Lough Derg and about Claremorris. 



As regards the third group — plants of the sands. Most of the 

 plants of sandy shores, such as Glaucium, Eryngium, Salsola, are not, 

 in the British Isles at least, found in other situations. The plants of 

 the sand-dunes are not so essentially maritime ; and while some, such 

 as Euphorbia Paralias and Psamma arenaria, undoubtedly prefer the 

 neighbourhood of the sea, others merely choose this habitat on ac- 

 count of their predilection for a light porous soil. Such are Ononis 

 arvensis, Echium vulgare, Cynoglossum officinale, species which are not 

 uncommon in inland situations in England, but which, on account of 

 the rarity of light soils in Ireland, are almost confined to the coast. 



The whole group of plants of sandy shores is more largely repre- 

 sented on the east coast than on the west. The bare wind-swept 

 dunes of the west coast, continually changing under the influence 



