Myosoton aquaticum (L.) Moench (Water Chickweed) - New to Ireland and a Suggestion as toHow It Got HereAuthor(s): Ian McNeillSource: The Irish Naturalists' Journal, Vol. 27, No. 9 (2004), pp. 352-353Published by: Irish Naturalists' Journal Ltd.Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/25536532 .

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Ir. Nat J. Volume 27 No 9 2004

Cymbalaria pallida (Ten.) Wettst. (Italian toadflax) - new

to Ireland

On 25 July 2003, my son Andrew and I visited Buncrana, E Donegal, and found

Cymbalaria pallida growing on a bridge over the Crana River. This is the second bridge up from the sea, within Swan Park (C345327). The credit for the find goes to Andrew - while I

was passing it off as a rather handsome C. muralis, he insisted that it was a different species. This is the first record of C. pallida in Ireland to be found outside gardens.

How C. pallida came to be growing on the bridge is a matter of speculation. Although the site is overhung with trees and not particularly suitable for rockery-type plants, there were

a couple of other plants there that would suggest garden origin - a small plant akin to

Saxifraga hypnoides and just one stem of a purple-leaved Sedum. These were both growing out of the vertical wall in situations where it would be extremely difficult to find a foothold to

plant anything. Could they have all come as bird-sown seeds from a nearby rock garden?

Acknowledgement: I would like to thank Paul Hackney for confirming the identification of C.

pallida.

Ian McNeill

86 Fairhill Road, Cookstown, Co Tyrone BT80 8DE

Myosoton aquaticum (L.) Moench (water chickweed) -

new to Ireland and a suggestion as to how it got here

On 19 August 2002 John Harron and I were driving along the Fury River valley SE of

Clogher, Co Tyrone (H570477), when our attention was drawn to piles of spent mushroom

compost dumped on waste ground alongside the road. Chenopodium mbrum is a frequent component of the plants found on such dumps, and we stopped to have a look. The stop was

well worthwhile, for, besides several plants of C. rubrum, we also found Myosoton aquaticum and Anthriscus caucalis. M. aquaticum is a new alien plant record for Ireland. Although A.

caucalis is not given for Tyrone in Scannell, M. J. P. & Synnott, D. M. (1987 Census catalogue

of the flora of Ireland. Stationery Office, Dublin), there is an old record from Cookstown

(undated, but probably about 1925).

In July 2003 I revisited the site. The piles of compost were still there, now heavily clothed with Urtica dioica. The C. rubrum was also still there, in some quantity, but the two rarities had disappeared. However, on 28 September 2003 M. aquaticum turned up again,

once more on spent mushroom compost, at a dump site at Aughlish, 1km W of

Castlecaulfield, Co Tyrone (H738631). It was the dominant plant over an area of about 20m2, where the compost had been levelled out, so providing a good 'bed' for the plant to spread

itself. A voucher specimen from this site is deposited in DBN.

M. aquaticum is a perennial herb, superficially resembling large Stellaria media. It is

native in Britain where it grows in marshes, ditches and on banks of water-courses (Stace, C.

1997 New flora of the British Isles. Cambridge University Press). In Ireland, what component of the spent mushroom compost is likely to be the source of the C. rubrum and two rare

species? Mairead Kilpatrick of the Northern Ireland Horticulture and Plant Breeding Station at

Loughgall provided the following information for N Ireland.

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Ir. Nat J. Volume 27 No 9 2004

Mushroom compost is manufactured from straw, poultry litter and gypsum. These are

normally sourced within Ireland, although occasionally (e.g. 1994) straw has to be imported from England following a poor harvest season in Ireland. After undergoing a two-phase sterilization process involving decomposition by internal bacterial action and by controlled temperatures, with considerable release of ammonia, the compost can remain weed-free for

many months. The mushroom spawn, cultured on a sterile base, is imported from England. The grower in Ireland spreads the impregnated compost on the mushroom beds, and for two weeks the mushroom mycelia spread through the compost. At this stage, a 'casing layer' is

spread over the compost. It consists of peat (sourced in Ireland) and a neutralising agent which may be lime or, more likely, sugar-beet lime. The sugar-beet lime is a waste product of the sugar-beet industry and is normally imported from England. It could be contaminated by

weeds as it undergoes no further process. When the mushroom crop is harvested and the compost discarded, it is possible that this later addition of sugar-beet lime may be the source of alien weeds, rather than the initial manufactured compost.

Acknowledgements:! would like to thank Paul Hackney for help with identification of M. aquaticum, and Mairead Kilpatrick for the information about the mushroom compost.

Ian McNeill

86 Fairhill Road, Cookstown, Co Tyrone BT80 8DE

Miscellaneous records of alien plants in Ireland Records for ten alien vascular plant taxa found in Ireland mainly in 2003 are given

below and include one new Irish record and several new vice-county records. Nomenclature and order follow Stace (C. 1997 New flora of the British Isles. Second edition. Cambridge University Press). DBN =

specimen in the National Herbarium, Glasnevin, Dublin; BM =

specimen in British Museum (Natural History); SR = Sylvia Reynolds; NCR = New vice

county record.

Gaultheria shalfon. H35. Ardnamona Woods, W side of L. Eske (G966855), 13 June 2003, Howard Fox and Maria Cullen. Beside track near entrance to Ardnamona gardens; growing vigorously on peaty soil in native woodland habitats and apparently escaping from cultivation. NCR.

Hebe x franciscana. H20. Bray Head (0276179), 26 July 2003, Dublin Naturalists' Field Club. Small plant self-sown on coastal cliff at S end of promenade; probable escape from nearby gardens. NCR

Saxifraga x arendsii agg. H33. Near Kesh (H185640), 2 May 2002, Stewart Wistow. One clump with bright magenta flowers in limestone grassland at foot of limestone quarry, with Orchis mascula, no other obvious garden escapes in the area. Det. D. W. Jeffrey and J. A. N. Parnell; conf. R. Gornall. DBN. New Irish record.

Rubus armeniacus. H31. Clogher Head (018), 10 August 1991, Marcella Campbell. Det. D. E.Allen. BM. NCR.

The record of R. tinkianus Ser. from Co Derry in 1938 (Brenan, J. P. M. & Simpson, N. D. 1949 Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy 52B: 57-84; Reynolds, S. C. P. 2002 A catalogue of alien plants in Ireland. Occasional Papers No. 14. National Botanic Gardens,

Glasnevin) may be referable to R. armeniacus which was not well known at the time (D. E. Mien pers. comm.).

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