Mr Mackay's Flora Hibernica. 263 



nera and species, are generally adopted from the British Flora, as 

 well as the etymologies of the generic names. We are convin- 

 ced that the work has not lost any practical value in so excellent a 

 guide having been followed as Sir W. J. Hooker ; but at the same 

 time, our friend Mr Mackay will allow us to express a regret 

 that, in the first respectable Flora of such a country as Ireland, 

 a little originality should not have been exhibited. We are sorry 

 also not to see a few observations upon the geographical distribution 

 of Irish plants, as compared with England and Scotland ; but 

 this most interesting subject will probably increase the value of a 

 second edition at no distant period. * 



The plan adopted by the author, of treading for the most part in 

 the steps of Hooker, leaves little scope for critical remarks. He has 

 naturally enough followed the example offered by the Floras of Eng- 

 land and Scotland, of admitting various doubtful plants into his 

 list ; but there are two which we consider as more than usually 

 questionable; viz. Dianthus plumarius, and Lythrum virgatum. A 



* In addition to remarks on the geographical distribution of plants hinted at 

 by our contributor of the above article, we should like to see embodied in a new 

 edition, which we sincerely trust is already called for, a little more distinction, 

 marked either by type or otherwise, between the plants which are really indige- 

 nous and those of spurious rank ; the localities more decidedly pointed out, and 

 the places of growth stated with more precision, and " with a steady eye to their 

 mineralogical characters," — and surely it is indispensable to have the provincial 

 names noted in the native Irish. Ireland has ever been to us a favourite coun- 

 try, and we have looked upon it as affording peculiarities remarkably enticing to 

 the faunist or florist. It is of sufficient extent to be itself a province, has va- 

 riety of hill and dale, of wide-spreading lakes and noble rivers, of waste and 

 woodland, of sea-coast and of alpine ranges. It is separated from its sister 

 isle, (from which the annexed table will show it to vary curiously in its botani- 

 cal productions,) only by a narrow strait, from the continent of Europe by a 

 wider space, while on another side it is open, and exposed to the storms and 

 surge of the ocean. It would be curious to trace the influence of the nearest 

 lands on its animal productions, and on its flora. The vegetation of the west 

 coast might be contrasted with that of the east and north. The influence which 

 the greater moisture and less severity of her winters had on the habits and phy- 

 siognomy of the vegetation, or in clothing her hills with mossy and saxifragous 

 plants, might be carefully marked and compared. This, we know, would be a 

 task difficult and tedious, though to some delightful ; but the Florist of Ireland, 

 independent of his scientific acquirements, must catch the spirit of the clime ; he 

 must learn to love the green isle and its every beauty ; he must add some tincture 

 of the poet and a love for the olden time, a taint of the learning and eccentrici- 

 ty of the antiquary ; — before commencing he must invoke the manes of Linnanis 

 and of Wahlenberg. 



