INTRODUCTION. xiii 
land, Spitzbergen, Scandinavia and Scotland, or by a shorter 
route which joined Ireland and Greenland with Iceland and 
the Faroe Islands.* 
Amongst the 762 plants included in the Kerry flora, only 
three native phanerogams and a Nitella appear to be unknown 
elsewhere in Ireland, they are Sibthorpia europea, Utricularia 
Bremit, Simethis bicolor and Nitella confervacea. All four are 
local, but with the exception of the Utricularia, where they 
occur do so rather plentifully. An introduced plant Poly- 
gonum sagittatum, also is unknown elsewhere in Ireland, and, 
indeed, appears to be quite confined in Europe to one locality 
in Kerry outside its home in North America. A few plants 
like Epipactis atroviridis, Carex hibernica and several of the 
Hieracia and Rubi forms are also as yet unknown outside this 
county, but the range of these critical plants is still too,imper- 
fectly ascertained in Ireland to enable us to say with any 
confidence that they are really restricted to Kerry. Lathyrus 
maritimus also had its only Irish station in this county, 
unfortunately it appears to be now extinct there. 
Kerry has its full share, over 26 per cent, of rare Irish 
plants taking Mr. Colgan’s definition of a rare species for 
Ireland as one which occurs in less than 10 of the Vice 
Counties of Irish Topog. Bot. Passing over those included in 
the Lusitanian and American groups, the following are the 
most interesting of the rare Irish species found in Kerry :— 
Carum verticillatum and Bartsia viscosa, both abundant over 
the greater portion of the county ; more restricted in range are 
Wahlenbergia hederacea, Microcala filiformis and Sibthorpia 
europea ; while still more restricted but usually plentiful in 
one or more stations, are Draba incana, Alchemilla alpina, 
Galium sylvestre, Saussurea alpina, several of the Hieracia, 
Polygonum sagittatum, Simethis bicolor, Zostera nana, Scirpus 
parvulus, Carex Benninghausiana, Aspidium Lonchitis, Pilu- 
laria globulifera, Chara canescens and Nitella confervacea. 
Some of these rare species occur but very sparingly indeed, 
amongst them being Thalictrum alpinum, Teesdalia nudicaulis, 
Hypopithys multiflora, Orobanche rubra, Pyrola minor, Utricu- 
laria Bremii, Polygonum viviparum, Rumex maritimus, Elisma 
natans, Asplenium lanceolatum and Lycopodium inundatum. 
* The only other North American plant peculiar in the British Isles to 
Treland is Spiranthes Romanzoffiana. This Orchid has not yet been found 
in the county but most probably occurs there, one of its recorded stations 
lying less than five miles from the Kerry boundary. 
