Stsyrinchium.] IRIDES. 285 
It has been thought that the Sisyrinchium owes its start in 
Ireland to the famine of 1847, when a large quantity 
of American grain was distributed amongst the starving 
peasantry in Kerry as elsewhere in the west; but the 
Sisyrinchium is not a plant of cultivated ground and so is 
most unlikely to be found in any grain field. This objection 
would apply with equal force to the suggestion that the 
species may have been introduced with imported damaged 
grain for fowl feeding. 
In Ireland this plant is found in most of the counties 
bordering on the Atlantic, from Schull in south-west Cork, 
through Kerry, Clare and south-east Galway, to Sligo, 
Fermanagh and south Donegal, a range of fully 220 miles. 
It appears to be still unknown in Great Britain, but occurs 
on the Continent in several places and is stated to be spread- 
ing rapidly in north and west Germany. In its American 
home, it extends from Newfoundland to British Columbia 
in the north and from Virginia to Colorado in the south. 
The Kerry plant appears to be S. angustifolium Mill.— 
with the floral bracts unequal ; the closely allied S. gramin- 
oides Bicknell and 8. Ailanticum Bicknell—with the floral 
bracts equal, have not, so far, been observed ; all three 
plants are widely distributed in North America. 
[Ruscus acuLEatus Linn. Butcher’s Broom.—t. In 
Ardtully woods west of Kilgarvan, 1904: R.W.S.—VI. “ It 
grows wild near Mucruss, and in the islands of Lough-Lane ” 
(Dr. Smith) Hist. of Kerry, 1756, p. 381, No. 86. Still in 
the Muckross shrubberies in two or three spots, 1908 ; it 
occurs also in the Home Park, Killarney, near the Deenagh 
River and in Glenflesk Castle grounds, 1904.—VII. In 
several places in the “ Green,” Tralee, 1907, and sparingly 
about Killagh Abbey ruins, Milltown, 1909.—IX. About the 
ruins of Kilelton Castle near Ballylongford, 1902: R.W.S. 
An introduced plant or an escape, showing little or no 
tendency to increase ; it has held its own, however, in the 
Muckross shrubberies for more than 150 years.] 
[CoNVALLARIA MAJALIS Linn. Lily of the Valley.—VI. 
“On the island of Inisfalen in Lough-Lane, and the woods 
round that lake” (Dr. Smith) Hist. of Kerry, 1756, p. 379, 
No. 61. Not seen recently on Innisfallen, but a few plants 
were noticed in Muckross demesne : R.W.S. 1889. No doubt 
an introduction there ; growing quite near were such plants 
as Ruscus, Alliwm Scorodoprasum, &c.] 
