Botanical Rambles. 35 



was only known from a few lakes on the western side of Ireland. 

 The peat bogs yield a number of plants which affect such a 

 habitat, such as the three British species of Drosera, Vaccinium 

 oxycoccos, Andromeda polifolia, Rhynchospora alha^ Osmunda 

 regalis. About the lake at Loughgall and in the woods and 

 hedgerows there a number of interesting plants occur, of which 

 may be mentioned Ranunculus Lingua^ Barbarea arcuata^ 

 Lithospermum officinale^ Carex stricta, C. paludosa, Cladium 

 MariscuSj Char a polvacantha. Several plants which are ex- 

 tremely rare about Belfast and in the north-eastern counties of 

 Ireland were found to be widely distributed in County Armagh ; 

 of these the most marked were Hypericum aubium, Thrincia 

 hiria^ and Festuca rigida. On the limestone area, which 

 stretches east and west of Armagh, several species were found 

 which were in County Armagh confined to this area — Carduus 

 acanthoides^ Lam,ium alburn^ Veronica anagallis, Juncus 

 glaucuSy Trisetum flavescens^ Briza media. 



South Armagh next claimed attention, and the mountainous 

 district lying west of Newry was explored. Along the estuary 

 of the Newry river a number of the denizens of the salt maish 

 were found, of which the most interesting were Scirpus Taber- 

 ncemontani, Beta maritima, Obione portulacoiaes^ Lepturus 

 filijormis. On gravelly spots in this neighbourhood were found 

 Spergularia rubra^ Linaria repens^ and Diplotaxis muralis- 

 The glens on Ferry Hill yielded Lastrea aemula^ L. oreopteris^ 

 and Hymenophyllum tunbridgense. The mountain flora proved 

 exceptionally poor. Although the fine mass of Slieve Gullion 

 rise to a height of 1,893 feet, Listera cordaia was the only 

 interesting species found on the Armagh hj^ls. Rubus Borreri 

 was a rare bramble that was discovered in this neighbourhood. 

 The lecturer then gave some descriptive particulars of the 

 interesting neighbourhood of Slieve GulHon, and touched on 

 the ancient legends associated with the mountain and with the 

 little lake near its summit, and on the historical and archaeo- 

 logical features of the district. 



The central portion of Armagh was next examined. In the 



