pretty Heaths (Erica vagans and E. ciliaris) are found, the latter spreading to Dorset. They occur in no other stations in the British Islands, and elsewhere only in the Pyrenean region. North Devon is the only home in Great Britain for the handsome Irish Spurge (Euphorbia hiberna), which in Ireland is distributed along the west and south coasts, being very abundant in Kerry. Outside the British Isles it also is confined to the Pyrenean area. Crossing into Ireland, we find along the south and west coasts no less than seven plants unknown in Great Britain, and elsewhere found only or mainly in the Pyrenees. Of these, three Heaths (Erica mediterranea, E. Mackayi, Dabœcia polifolia) are confined to Connemara and the Pyrenees; two Saxifrages, the London Pride (S. umbrosa) and the Kidney-leaved (S. Geum), with their Irish headquarters in Kerry, are likewise confined to the Pyrenean region. The beautiful Large-flowered Butterwort (Pinguicula grandiflora, [Fig. 28]), abundant in parts of Kerry and Cork, grows in South-west Europe and the Alps; while the Strawberry-tree (Arbutus Unedo, [Fig. 29]), so pleasing and unique a feature of the Killarney woods, ranges all along the Mediterranean. A little Orchid, Neotinea intacta, found on limy soils in Galway and the adjoining counties, and a Grass (Schlerochloa festuciformis) which occurs on sheltered shores on both the east and west sides of Ireland, are likewise confined elsewhere to the Mediterranean region. So it will be seen that along the south-western and western borders of the British Isles there is scattered a well-marked group of plants belonging to the Pyrenean and Mediterranean floras, whose English or Irish stations are quite discontinuous with their nearest Continental habitats. Here clearly is something which calls for explanation; but before discussing the question attention may be drawn to a still more remarkable plant group of our western coasts, which mingles with the southern group referred to.
In damp meadows all round Lough Neagh, in the North of Ireland, grows an Orchid, Spiranthes Romanzoffiana ([Fig. 30]), whose greenish-white flowers possess a delicious fragrance resembling that of its ally, S. spiralis, the Autumnal Lady’s Tresses. S. Romanzoffiana occurs also in Co. Cork, but we may search in vain for it throughout the rest of Europe. It is an American plant, widely spread throughout Canada and the northern States, and found on the Asiatic as well as the Alaskan side of Behring Sea. Again, in pools along the western Irish coast from Cork to Donegal, and also in the Hebrides, grows the Pipewort (Eriocaulon articulatum), a little aquatic with a tuft of grassy leaves from which a slender stem rises above the water, bearing a button-like head of small grey flowers. This plant also is absent from all the rest of Europe and from Asia, but widely spread in northern North America. The little Blue-eyed Grass of Canada (Sisyrinchium angustifolium), again, grows abundantly in many areas in the West of Ireland, where it would seem to be undoubtedly native, and is otherwise confined to North America. One or two other plants, of the same foreign distribution, have in Europe a less restricted range; they need not be mentioned individually, for enough has been said to show that along the western coasts of the British Isles
FIG. 29.—STRAWBERRY-TREE (ARBUTUS UNEDO) AT THE LAKES OF KILLARNEY.
FIG. 30.—SPIRANTHES ROMANZOFFIANA GROWING BY LOUGH NEAGH.
[To face p. 174.