INTEODTJCTION. li 



Romamofficma, SisyrincMum angustifolium, Arenwria ciliata, Inula 

 mlicina, Ewphtasia Salisburgensis, and Carex rhynohophysa, form 

 any natural botanical group. They have no common focus in Ireland 

 or eleewliere. If, however, we join with the first two, three other 

 Irish species, none of which is peculiar in the British Isles, to Ireland, 

 we have the following small group of North American character 

 whose presence with us gives rise to another most difficult problem 

 in distribution : — 



North American Group. 



Spiranthes Eomanzoffiana Eriocaulou eeptangiJare. 



■fSisyrinohium anguBtifolium. Naias flexilis. 



tJunous tenuis. 



"While the species of the Cantabrian group are beyond all question 

 indigenous in Ireland, there is reason to suspect that two of these 

 North American plants, the SisyrincMum and the Jwncus, may have 

 been introduced. As for the remaining three species of the North 

 American group, no doubt has ever been raised as to their indigenous 

 standing in Ireland. The rare Spiranthes jRoman%offiana, an orchid 

 unknown elsewhere in Europe, occurs in Ireland in the counties of 

 Armagh and Derry in the north, and Cork in the extreme south-west, 

 an interval of more than 200 miles, separating its northern and 

 southern stations. In North America, as in Kamtschatka, its only 

 known Asiatic station, this species is sub-arctic in range. Far more 

 abundant in Ireland is JEriocaulon septangula/re. This extends at 

 intervals all along our west coasts from Adrigole in Cork to the 

 Eosses in Donegal, and occurs in great profusion in most of the 

 lakes of lar Connaught and Connemara in "West Gralway. The 

 third undoubtedly indigenous member of this American group, 

 Naias flexilis, is rare in Ireland. So far, it has been discovered in 

 only three of our lakes, one in Gralway, and two in Kerry, but it is 

 a plant of rather deep water, not easily detected, and further dredg- 

 ing of our numerous western lakes may much extend its range in 

 Ireland. This species occurs in Perthshire and Skye in Scotland, 

 and in several stations in Northern Europe ; but the Mriocaulon fails 

 to reach the European continent, and in Great Britain is confined to 

 the Scotch islands of Skye and CoU. 



Every attempt to explain the presence in Ireland, of these 

 northern American species, as they may be considered, is beset with 

 difficulty. It seems best on the whole to regard them as relics of 



