MULLAGHMORE LAKE

MULLAGHMORE LAKE is labelled 19 on the map. It is South East of Markethill, above Loughgilly. .

The naturalist Robert Lloyd Praeger described discovering Carex rhynchophysa (greater bottle-sedge) at Mullaghmore Lake in an article “A new Irish sedge” in The Journal of Botany, 1893, vol. 31, pp. 33-35:

“The circumstances connected with the discovery of this plant in Britain were attended by
a rather humorous scene, which I trust it will not be considered heresy to relate in the
grave and strictly scientific pages of this Journal. On August 14th last I was botanising
along the marshy shores of Mullaghmore Lough, a lakelet occupying a shallow hollow in
the Lower Silurian or Ordovician rocks that cover the central portion of the county of
Armagh. Tall plume-like tufts of Cicuta grew around, and the numerous bog-holes were
spangled with the white flowers of Nymphaea. Presently my eye was caught by a patch
several feet in diameter of a large sedge, growing in the centre of a deep drain some ten
feet in width, which communicated with the waters of the lake. It was immediately
distinguished from the groves of Carex rostrata which grew around by its taller growth
and more glaucous leaves. It grew in between two and three feet of water, the total
height of the plant being about four feet. How to get at it was the difficulty. The bottom of
the drain was soft, deep mud. The sides were soft peat, I stretched over and examined the
clump with my stick. A single fruit-stem was disclosed, much shorter than the leaves, and
bearing several stout sessile erect spikes of fruit, with long leaf-like bracts. I again and
again tried to hook it in with my stick, but unsuccessfully-tantalizing! Meanwhile, my
eccentric movements had attracted the attention of the inhabitants of the immediate
neighbourhood. A small boy who had been lying half-asleep under a hedge sat up and
stared with all his might at this novel fishing. The cows which he was herding
approached cautiously, and stood mystified in a semicircle. A flock of ducks hurried in
from the lough to see what was up, and paused within a few yards, expressing their
curiosity in loud quacks of enquiry. All was excitement and suspense. Ah! I had got the
sedge safely hooked this time. Slowly it was drawn towards the bank, and my hand closed
on the stem. Then came the denouement. The edge of the bank suddenly gave way. There
was a frantic spring, and then a huge splash. The ducks gave one universal quack, and
fled from the scene with a prodigious flapping; the cows kicked up their heels, and
scattered precipitately; the small boy, convinced that the water-bogie was after him at
98 M. J. P. Scannell
last, fled from the spot in terror; and the botanist emerged, dripping with mud and water,
but clutching firmly in his hand the first British specimen of Carex rhynchophysa !