Meeting report
(Extracted from The Journal of Botany, March, 1936, pp. 80-81)
The Annual Meeting and Foray of the above Society was held at Muckross, Killarney, August 10-17, 1935. The President, Mr. D. A. Jones, M.Sc., A.L.S., and twenty-four other members were present. At the General Meeting on August 13 thanks were tendered to Major Phelps for facilities for the exploration of Muckross demesne (National Park), to Messrs. D. B. Bradshaw and D. I. Cronin for rendering such facilities possible, and to Dr. Lloyd Praeger for help in the arrangement of some of the excursions. Cheltenham was selected as the venue for the 1936 meeting. The President, who was familiar with the district, and had given an account of its bryophytic flora in this Journal (June, 1913), gave a general description of the habitats and localities where the characteristic or rare bryophytes occurred.
The Killarney district, owing to its humid and warm climate, is the home not only of some of our rarest vascular plants, but also of some of our rarest cryptogams. During the excursions some attention was naturally paid to the former, though the fieldwork was chiefly concerned with the latter, especially with the bryophytes. The carboniferous limestone on the margins of the Lower Lake yielded most of the characteristic plants of such a substratum, such as Eurhynchium circinatum, Marchesinia mackaii, and Placodium cirrochroum, though the oak growing on it was Quercus sessiliflora. The steep siliceous rocks of Eagle’s Nest, the trees (Q. sessiliflora dominant again) on its wooded slopes, and the ground and rocks between it and Old Weir Bridge provided many rare and interesting plants. Plagiochila punctata, P. spinulosa, and P. tridenticulata were so abundant on the oaks that mosses and lichens were often absent, and the usual habitat distinctions between saxicolous and corticicolous species were often broken down.
Torc Mt. was explored, but very little of the rare Daltonia splachnoides was seen. The banks and boulders by the side of the famous Torc Cascade gave a rich harvest of hepatics, a list of which would almost become a catalogue of our rarer species. The ascent of Mangerton proved a delightful excursion, especially from a scenic point of view. Horse’s Glen, Loch Erhagh, and the Devil’s Punchbowl were explored on the way. A number of interesting and rare mosses were observed, and some of these were new vice-comital records. Other places investigated were Dinish, Cromaglown and O’Sullivan’s Cascade. About Dinish the most common Radula was R. carringtonii; at Cromaglown Trichostomum hibernicum was common, and near O’Sullivan’s Cascade Hookeria laetevirens and Grimmia retracta were noted.
After the Killarney excursions fifteen members and friends travelled on to Dingle and explored the extreme west of Ireland, Slea Head, Dunmore Head, Connor Hill and Brandon Mt. were visited.
The following is a list of new vice-county records (1, South Kerry; 2, North Kerry). Some of the Sphagna had been seen the previous year by Mr. A. Thompson, but have not been published till now:-
Sphagna.-Sphagnum plumulosum, Eagle’s Nest (2). S. recurvum var. robustum, Mangerton (2). S. fallax var. laxifolium and var. schultzii, Brandon Headland (1). S. compactum var. subsquarrosum, near Loch Cruttia (1), var. imbricatum, Garygarry (2). S. obesum var. teretiramosum and var. hemi-isophyllum, both new to Ireland, Connor Hill (1). S. inundatum var. lancifolium, Torc Mt. (2), new to Ireland. S. aquatile var. intortum, near Loch Cruttia (1), Mangerton (2), var. sanguinale, Loch Cruttia (1), var. remotum, Connor Hill (1), Mangerton and Old Weir Bridge (2), all three new to Ireland. S. auriculatum var. ovatum, Brandon Headland (1), var. canovirescens, Torc Mt. (2), new to Ireland. S. crassifolium var. diversfolium, Connor Hill (1), var. magnifolium, Old Weir Bridge (2). S. camussii, Connor Hill (1), Eagle’s Nest (2). S. papillosum var. sublaeve, Eagle’s Nest (2).
True Mosses.- Dichodontium pellucidum var. compactum, Brandon Mt. (1). Blindia acuta var. trichodes, Brandon Mt. (1). Campylopus atrovirens var. muticus, Brandon Mt. and Connor Hill (1). Dicranum uncinatum, Eagle’s Nest (2). Fissidens pusillus, Torc Mt., etc. (2). F. curnowii, below O’Sullivan’s Cascade (1). Grimmia robusta, near L. Cruttia (1), Brickeen Bridge (2). G. retracta, below O’Sullivan’s Cascade (1). G. doniana near L. Cruttia (1). Rhacomitrium ramulosum, L. Naluchan (1). Tortula atrovirens, Slea Head (1). Barbula ferruginascens, L. Cruttia (1). B. convoluta var. sardoa, Dingle (1). Weisia microstoma, Dingle (1). Trichostomum tortuosum var. fragilifolium, near Eagle’s Nest (2). Bryum caespiticium, Dingle (1). B. alpinum var. viride, near L. Cruttia (1). B. argenteum, Dingle (1). Thuidium delicatulum, Torc Mt. (2). Eurhynchium curvisetum, Dingle (1). E. myosuroides var. brachythecioides, Mangerton (2). Amblystegium tenax (A. irriguum), Muckross (2). Hypnum molluscum var. fastigiatum, Torc Mt. and Muckross (2). Drepanocladus falcatus, Brandon (1).
Hepatics.- Aneura major, Dunmore Head (1). Lophozia muelleri, above L. Cruttia (1). L. bicrenata, Mangerton (2). Plagiochila asplenioides var. major, Muckross (2). Odontoschisma denudatum, Eagle’s Nest (2).
W. Watson