264 Mr Mackay's Flora Hilernica. 
more interesting plant is a curious heath, named by Mr Babington 
Erica Mackaiana. We wish it may be truly distinct, but it is very 
nearly allied to E. tetralix, which it resembles in its flowers and awned 
anthers, while in its leaves it approaches E. ciliaris.* It is found in 
Cunnamara, the country of E, Mediterranea, and Menziesia poly folia. 
Saxifraga geum, d. of Hooker is raised to the rank of a species, un- 
der the name of S. elegans ; the author states that it has retained 
its distinctive characters in cultivation since 1807- The Irish whin, 
Ulex strictus of the catalogue of Irish plants, is reduced to a varie- 
ty of U. Europceus ; but we confess we are as much in doubt re- 
specting that peculiar-looking plant, as Sir W. J. Hooker, who ad- 
mits that he is at a loss whether to refer it to U. Europaeus, or na- 
nus, or to consider it as a species. But surely the same scruple need 
not exist in regard to the Florencecourt yew, the Taxus fastigiata 
of Lindley's Synopsis. Individuals exist in Ireland of fifty years 
growth. In some few instances Mr Mackay differs from Sir W. J. 
Hooker ; for example, the genus Conopodium of Koch is preferred 
to Bunium for the common earth-nut ; and Helosciadium of Koch 
adopted by Hooker for Slum nodiflorum, repens and innudalum is re- 
jected. Calamintha officinalis is also still included in the genus Thy- 
mus. He has fallen into the same error as Sir W. J. Hooker in 
describing Habenaria chlorantha both under that name, and also 
under the denomination of H. bifolia } but there is reason to believe 
that Mr Mackay had not seen the true H. bifolia of Linnaeus, 
which is probably not a native of Ireland. The three common 
Primulas are kept up with an observation that many botanists 
consider them as only varieties. There seems to be a delicate for- 
bearance exercised by almost all writers of floras towards the " pale 
primrose," the " freckled cowslip," and their supposed hybrid the 
oxlip. Linnaeus believed them to be the children of one parent. 
Professor Henslow brought the question to the test of direct ex- 
periment, and raised them all from the same root. Hooker ob- 
serves, " They are rarely found intermixed, and in Scotland the 
two last kinds (P. elatior and veris) are scarcely known. t Mr H- 
F. Talbot found upon the summit of a high mountain near the lake 
of Thun, in Switzerland, P. elatior in abundance, while P. veris 
was confined to the base of the hill, and P. vulgaris was not found 
* See Mr Babington's characters at page 201. 
f This is a mistake as far as regards P. veris, which is by no means unfre- 
quent. We have seen whole fields as thickly dotted with cowslips in Scotland 
as in England. 
