14 



CUSCUTA EPITHYMUM IN IRELAND. 



By A. G. More, F.L.S. 



A few weeks ago I received from Mr. J. Ernest Grubb, of 

 Carrick-on-Suir, some specimens of a Ouscuta, which he sent to me 

 as Cuscnta Epithymum. Upon my asking for further details, Mr. 

 Grubb has very kindly supplied me with a fine series of fresh 



information that the 



together 



with the 



interesting 



specimens, 



Dodder grows in considerable abundance at the west end of the 

 sand-hills, on the Rabbit Burrow near Tramore, Waterford ; para- 

 sitical chiefly upon Thymus, but some of the specimens sent to me 

 were attached also to Lotus corniculatus , Trifolium repens, and 

 Galium. Mr. Grubb first noticed it in this locality in 1886, and 

 has observed it for several years in the same neighbourhood, 



always on wild thyme, and 

 There is no furze 



extending over a considerable area, 



growing near, and the Dodder grows on a 



part of the sand-hills where there never appears to have been any 

 cultivation. 



In its red colour, and in the small size of the clusters, the plant 

 agrees well enough with Cuscuta Epithymum, which I think must 

 now definitely take its place in the Irish Flora. And I am inclined 

 to refer also to C. Epithymum the Cuscuta which was gathered by 

 my friend Mr. E. W. Scully in 1887, growing abundantly over the 

 space of an acre or two, on a remote part of the Banna sand-hills 

 in Kerry (see Journ. Dot. 1888, p. 76), though at the time we were 

 inclined to think this might be a colony of C. Trifolii escaped from 

 cultivation. 



As a third Irish locality for C. Epithymum we may probably add 

 Threlkeld's record under Cuscuta major: — M This herb groweth in 

 great plenty in the dry sandy banks near Mayden Tower, near 

 Drogheda, and grows like red threads on the tops of the low grass/' 

 Mayden Tower lies on the south bank of the Eiver Boyne, near its 

 mouth, and though I have once searched unsuccessfully for it, 

 I should not be surprised if the Dodder might be re-discovered. 



The other Irish localities, including those of Ballybrack and 

 Fassaroe, must, I believe, be referred to G. Trifolii, which some- 

 times persists for a few years in or near to the fields in which it has 

 been originally sown with the clover crop. C. Epithymum will then 

 be left as a native of Ireland growing only, so far as we know at 

 present, in three distant localities on the coast in the counties of 

 Kerry, Waterford, and Meath, and inhabiting only sea-side sand- 

 hills. 



[We have in the British Museum specimens of Cuscuta Epilinum 

 from Renvyle, Connemara, collected by Shuttlewjrth in 1832. 

 Ed. Joukx. Bot.] 





