8o 



The Irish Naturalist. 



The Mountain Pansy and its Time of Flowering:. 



On May i8th Mr. Athole Harrison brought me some fine flowers of 

 Viola lutea, which he had noticed in profuse bloom near Brittas a few days 

 previously. The locality — a little east of Brittas tramway station — is 

 not one of the seven that are noted for the plant in Mr. Colgan's " Flora 

 of County Dublin," though falling well within its known ambit in the 

 southern part of Districts 6 and 7 ; and it seems probable that further 

 research at the right time of the year might reveal the existence of a 

 considerable number of additional stations. I rememl)er many years ago 

 seeing a single plant of this species on Kilmashogue Mountain, in Mr. 

 Colgan's District 8, but this may have been from an accidentally dropped 

 seed. 



On looking up the plant's distribution, both Mr. Harrison and myself 

 were rather taken aback at finding its season of flowering set down as June 

 and July. Babington's Manual (latest edition), both editions of " Cybele 

 Hibernica," and the " Flora of County Dublin," are unanimous on this 

 point. Bentham and Hooker's " Handbook " escapes the subject by 

 treating the species as a mere variety of Viola tricolor. As Mr. Harrison's 

 plants were in full and copious bloom by the middle of May, I thought it 

 best to take the blossoms to Mr. Praeger for inspection before feeling sure 

 that our identification was correct. Mr. Praeger, however, not only 

 confirms the species, but seems to regard May as quite a usual month for 

 finding it in flower. If so, the leading text-books want a, little correction 

 on this important subject, and it is one that Dublin botanists have special 

 opportunities for elucidating. Not onl)^ the time of coming into flower, 

 but the length of continuance of the flowering season, should be carefully 

 noted for several years. So beautiful a plant will well repay closer study 

 than it seems yet to have received. 



C. B. Moffat. 



Dubhn. 



Antrim Plants. 



In the course of a few days spent at Carnlough, at the end of May, a few 

 interesting plants were seen, in spite of the early date and late spring. 

 Sanffitisorba officinalis was seen in what is evidently close to Adams' 

 station (J.N., 1899, 57) " very abundantly in a meadow at Ardclinis, 

 about a mile north of Carnlough," namely, rough banks by the coast road 

 at Bottle Point, extending for about a quarter of a mile, growing among 

 gorse. Galium sylvestre was found in Cushenill Glen (where Meconopsis 

 canibrica is still abundant), and also (with Flanlago maritima) at 800 feet 

 on the cliffs above the larch plantation south-east of Callisnagh Bridge in 

 Glenariff, where a pair of Peregrines were breeding ; by the old mineral 

 railway at the same place Equisetum umhrosum grew. A good clump of 

 Parsley Fern was seen at the base of a dry-built wall at 900 feet by the 



