Ireland
Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...
is in the
Atlantic European Province of the
Circumboreal Region
The Circumboreal Region in phytogeography is a floristic region within the Holarctic Kingdom in Eurasia and North America, as delineated by such geobotanists as Josias Braun-Blanquet and Armen Takhtajan.
It is the largest floristic region in ...
, a floristic region within the
Holarctic
The Holarctic realm is a biogeographic realm that comprises the majority of habitats found throughout the continents in the Northern Hemisphere. It corresponds to the floristic Boreal Kingdom. It includes both the Nearctic zoogeographical region ...
.
Composition of the flora
Ireland has a small
flora
Flora is all the plant life present in a particular region or time, generally the naturally occurring (indigenous) native plants. Sometimes bacteria and fungi are also referred to as flora, as in the terms '' gut flora'' or '' skin flora''.
E ...
for a European country because of its small size, lack of geological and
ecological
Ecology () is the study of the relationships between living organisms, including humans, and their physical environment. Ecology considers organisms at the individual, population, community, ecosystem, and biosphere level. Ecology overlaps wi ...
variation and its
Pleistocene
The Pleistocene ( , often referred to as the ''Ice age'') is the geological Epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from about 2,580,000 to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was fina ...
history.
There are 3,815 species of
plant
Plants are predominantly photosynthetic eukaryotes of the kingdom Plantae. Historically, the plant kingdom encompassed all living things that were not animals, and included algae and fungi; however, all current definitions of Plantae exclud ...
listed for
Ireland
Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...
:
[G.T. Higgins, J.R. Martin, P.M. Perri]
NATIONAL SURVEY OF NATIVE WOODLAND IN IRELAND
March 2004
*Phylum
Anthocerotophyta
Hornworts are a group of non-vascular Embryophytes (land plants) constituting the division Anthocerotophyta (). The common name refers to the elongated horn-like structure, which is the sporophyte. As in mosses and liverworts, hornworts have a g ...
– hornworts: 3 species
*Phylum
Bryophyta – mosses: 556 species
*Phylum
Charophyta
Charophyta () is a group of freshwater green algae, called charophytes (), sometimes treated as a division, yet also as a superdivision or an unranked clade. The terrestrial plants, the Embryophyta emerged within Charophyta, possibly from terre ...
– charophytes: 244 species
*Phylum
Chlorophyta
Chlorophyta or Prasinophyta is a taxon of green algae informally called chlorophytes. The name is used in two very different senses, so care is needed to determine the use by a particular author. In older classification systems, it refers to ...
– green algae: 148 species
*Phylum
Lycopodiophyta
The lycophytes, when broadly circumscribed, are a vascular plant (tracheophyte) subgroup of the kingdom Plantae. They are sometimes placed in a division Lycopodiophyta or Lycophyta or in a subdivision Lycopodiophytina. They are one of the oldest ...
– clubmosses: 9 species
*Phylum
Magnoliophyta
Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (), commonly called angiosperms. The term "angiosperm" is derived from the Greek language, Greek words ('container, vessel') and ('seed'), and refers to ...
– flowering plants: 2,196 species
*Phylum
Marchantiophyta
The Marchantiophyta () are a division of non-vascular land plants commonly referred to as hepatics or liverworts. Like mosses and hornworts, they have a gametophyte-dominant life cycle, in which cells of the plant carry only a single set of g ...
– liverworts: 229 species
*Phylum
Pinophyta
Conifers are a group of cone-bearing seed plants, a subset of gymnosperms. Scientifically, they make up the division Pinophyta (), also known as Coniferophyta () or Coniferae. The division contains a single extant class, Pinopsida. All extan ...
– pines: 12 species
*Phylum
Pteridophyta
A pteridophyte is a vascular plant (with xylem and phloem) that disperses spores. Because pteridophytes produce neither flowers nor seeds, they are sometimes referred to as "cryptogams", meaning that their means of reproduction is hidden. Ferns, ...
– ferns: 79 species
*Phylum
Rhodophyta
Red algae, or Rhodophyta (, ; ), are one of the oldest groups of eukaryotic algae. The Rhodophyta also comprises one of the largest phyla of algae, containing over 7,000 currently recognized species with taxonomic revisions ongoing. The majority ...
– red algae: 339 species
An additional 2,512 species of
fungus
A fungus ( : fungi or funguses) is any member of the group of eukaryotic organisms that includes microorganisms such as yeasts and molds, as well as the more familiar mushrooms. These organisms are classified as a kingdom, separately from th ...
occur in Ireland.
*Phylum
Acrasiomycota
The family Acrasidae (ICZN, or Acrasiomycota, ICBN) is a family of slime molds which belongs to the excavate group Percolozoa. The name element - comes from the Greek ''akrasia'', meaning "acting against one's judgement". This group consists ...
– cellular slime molds: 1 species
*Phylum
Ascomycota
Ascomycota is a phylum of the kingdom Fungi that, together with the Basidiomycota, forms the subkingdom Dikarya. Its members are commonly known as the sac fungi or ascomycetes. It is the largest phylum of Fungi, with over 64,000 species. The def ...
– sac fungi: 1,115 species
*Phylum
Basidiomycota
Basidiomycota () is one of two large divisions that, together with the Ascomycota, constitute the subkingdom Dikarya (often referred to as the "higher fungi") within the kingdom Fungi. Members are known as basidiomycetes. More specifically, Basi ...
– club fungi, mushrooms, shelf fungi, puff balls: 1,228 species
*Phylum
Chytridiomycota
Chytridiomycota are a division of zoosporic organisms in the kingdom Fungi, informally known as chytrids. The name is derived from the Ancient Greek ('), meaning "little pot", describing the structure containing unreleased zoöspores. Chytrids ...
– chytrids: 4 species
*Phylum
Microsporidia
Microsporidia are a group of spore-forming unicellular parasites. These spores contain an extrusion apparatus that has a coiled polar tube ending in an anchoring disc at the apical part of the spore. They were once considered protozoans or prot ...
– 1 species
*Phylum
Myxomycota – plasmodial slime moulds: 112 species
*Phylum
Oomycota
Oomycota forms a distinct phylogenetic lineage of fungus-like eukaryotic microorganisms, called oomycetes (). They are filamentous and heterotrophic, and can reproduce both sexually and asexually. Sexual reproduction of an oospore is the resul ...
– water moulds: 40 species
*Phylum
Zygomycota
Zygomycota, or zygote fungi, is a former division or phylum of the kingdom Fungi. The members are now part of two phyla: the Mucoromycota and Zoopagomycota. Approximately 1060 species are known. They are mostly terrestrial in habitat, living i ...
– pin or sugar moulds: 11 species
History of the flora: after the Pleistocene
![311 Rubus chamaemorus](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b1/311_Rubus_chamaemorus.jpg)
Ice-sheets covered most of Ireland until 13,000 years ago when the
Holocene
The Holocene ( ) is the current geological epoch. It began approximately 11,650 cal years Before Present (), after the Last Glacial Period, which concluded with the Holocene glacial retreat. The Holocene and the preceding Pleistocene togethe ...
began. The majority of Ireland's flora and
fauna
Fauna is all of the animal life present in a particular region or time. The corresponding term for plants is ''flora'', and for fungi, it is '' funga''. Flora, fauna, funga and other forms of life are collectively referred to as '' biota''. Zoo ...
has only returned as the
ice sheets retreated and
sea level rose accompanied by
post-glacial rebound
Post-glacial rebound (also called isostatic rebound or crustal rebound) is the rise of land masses after the removal of the huge weight of ice sheets during the last glacial period, which had caused isostatic depression. Post-glacial rebound a ...
when 10,000 years ago the climate began to warm. At this time there was a
land bridge
In biogeography, a land bridge is an isthmus or wider land connection between otherwise separate areas, over which animals and plants are able to cross and Colonisation (biology), colonize new lands. A land bridge can be created by marine regre ...
connecting
Wales
Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...
and the east coast of Ireland since sea levels were over 100 metres lower than they are today (water being frozen into the ice caps covering northern Asia and North America). Plants and animals were able to cross this land-bridge until about 7,500 years ago, when it was finally covered by the rising sea level as warming continued.
Mesolithic
The Mesolithic (Greek: μέσος, ''mesos'' 'middle' + λίθος, ''lithos'' 'stone') or Middle Stone Age is the Old World archaeological period between the Upper Paleolithic and the Neolithic. The term Epipaleolithic is often used synonymous ...
hunters entered Ireland around 8000 BC beginning
human occupation and from the
Neolithic
The Neolithic period, or New Stone Age, is an Old World archaeological period and the final division of the Stone Age. It saw the Neolithic Revolution, a wide-ranging set of developments that appear to have arisen independently in several parts ...
landscape was progressively altered by agriculture, especially in the 19th and 20th centuries. Aside from the
habitat alteration new species were introduced deliberately or accidentally. The archaeologist Emmet Byrnes and botanist Declan Little, Woodlands of Ireland give a history of woodlands in Ireland.
Habitats
![Lychnis flos-cuculi Eglinton](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a7/Lychnis_flos-cuculi_Eglinton.JPG)
There are two major
habitat
In ecology, the term habitat summarises the array of resources, physical and biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species habitat can be seen as the physical ...
s, making up most of the land area:
Grassland
Grassland includes
Lowland meadow and pasture with grasses such as
sweet vernal grass
''Anthoxanthum odoratum'', known as sweet vernal grass, is a short-lived perennial grass that is native to acidic grassland in Eurasia and northern Africa. It is grown as a lawn grass and a house plant, due to its sweet scent, and can also be f ...
,
perennial ryegrass
''Lolium perenne'', common name perennial ryegrass, English ryegrass, winter ryegrass, or ray grass, is a grass from the family Poaceae. It is native to Europe, Asia and northern Africa, but is widely cultivated and naturalised around the world.
...
,
meadow foxtail
''Alopecurus pratensis'', known as the meadow foxtail or the field meadow foxtail, is a perennial grass belonging to the grass family (Poaceae). It is native to Europe and Asia.
This common plant is found on grasslands, especially on neutral so ...
,
false oat-grass
''Arrhenatherum elatius'', with the common names bulbous oat grass, false oat-grass, tall oat-grass, tall meadow oat, onion couch and tuber oat-grass, is a species of perennial grass, native to Europe, western Asia, and northern Africa.
This bun ...
,
crested dog's-tail
''Cynosurus cristatus'', the crested dog's-tail, is a short-lived perennial grass in the family Poaceae, characterised by a seed head that is flat on one side. It typically grows in species rich grassland. It thrives in a variety of soil types ...
, ''
Festuca rubra
''Festuca rubra'' is a species of grass known by the common name red fescue or creeping red fescue. It is widespread across much of the Northern Hemisphere and can tolerate many habitats and climates. It is best adapted to well-drained soils in c ...
'',
red fescue
''Festuca rubra'' is a species of grass known by the common name red fescue or creeping red fescue. It is widespread across much of the Northern Hemisphere and can tolerate many habitats and climates. It is best adapted to well-drained soils in c ...
,
downy oat-grass,
Yorkshire fog
''Holcus lanatus'' is a perennial grass. The specific epithet ' is Latin for 'woolly' which describes the plant's hairy texture. Common names include Yorkshire fog, tufted grass, and meadow soft grass. In North America, where it is an invasive sp ...
,
timothy grass
Timothy (''Phleum pratense'') is an abundant perennial grass native to most of Europe except for the Mediterranean region. It is also known as timothy-grass, meadow cat's-tail or common cat's tail. It is a member of the genus ''Phleum'', consis ...
and
yellow oat-grass.
Lowland meadow and pasture flowers include
meadow thistle,
creeping thistle
''Cirsium arvense'' is a perennial species of flowering plant in the family Asteraceae, native throughout Europe and western Asia, northern Africa and widely introduced elsewhere.Joint Nature Conservation Committee''Cirsium arvense'' The standa ...
,
spear thistle,
pignut Hognut or pignut can mean any of a number of unrelated plants:
* ''Bunium bulbocastanum'' (black cumin) or ''Conopodium majus'' (kippernut) of the Apiaceae
* rushpeas, particularly ''Hoffmannseggia glauca'' (Indian rushpea) and ''Hoffmannseggia den ...
,
lesser knapweed,
meadow thistle,
smooth hawksbeard
''Crepis capillaris'', the smooth hawksbeard, is a species of flowering plant in the tribe Cichorieae within the family Asteraceae, and is native to Europe. It has become naturalized in other lands and is regarded as a weed in some places.
''Cre ...
,
eyebright
''Euphrasia'', or eyebright, is a genus of about 450 species of herbaceous flowering plants in the family Orobanchaceae (formerly included in the Scrophulariaceae), with a cosmopolitan distribution. They are semi-parasitic on grasses and other ...
,
ragged robin
''Silene flos-cuculi'' (syn. ''Lychnis flos-cuculi''), commonly called ragged-robin, is a perennial herbaceous plant in the family Caryophyllaceae. This species is native to Europe and Asia, where it is found along roads and in wet meadows and p ...
,
red bartsia
''Odontites vernus'', the red bartsia, is a wild flower from the family Orobanchaceae native to Europe and Asia and occurring as an alien in North America. The red bartsia is a common plant in low-fertility soils, where it lives partially as a pa ...
,
yellow rattle
''Rhinanthus minor'', known as yellow rattle, is a herbaceous wildflower in the genus ''Rhinanthus'' in the family Orobanchaceae (the broomrapes). It has circumpolar distribution in Europe, Russia, western Asia, and northern North America. An an ...
,
marsh lousewort,
cowslip,
catsear
Cat's ear is the common name for several species of flowering plants:
*''Hypochaeris'' species, especially ''Hypochaeris radicata''
* Some ''Calochortus
''Calochortus'' is a genus of flowering plants in the lily family. The group includes h ...
,
autumn hawkbit
''Scorzoneroides autumnalis'', commonly called autumn hawkbit, is a perennial plant species, widespread in its native range in Eurasia (from Europe east to western Siberia), and introduced in North America.
The plant is sometimes called fall da ...
,
meadow buttercup
''Ranunculus acris'' is a species of flowering plant in the family Ranunculaceae, and is one of the more common buttercups across Europe and temperate Eurasia. Common names include meadow buttercup, tall buttercup, common buttercup and giant but ...
,
bulbous buttercup and
dandelion
''Taraxacum'' () is a large genus of flowering plants in the family Asteraceae, which consists of species commonly known as dandelions. The scientific and hobby study of the genus is known as taraxacology. The genus is native to Eurasia and Nor ...
Upland pasture
Upland pasture (rough grazing and/or semi-natural rough grazing) is a type of semi-natural grassland located in uplands of rolling foothills or upon higher slopes, greater than 350 meters (1148.29 feet) and less than 600 meters (1968.50 feet) from ...
(mostly semi-natural, that is maintained by particular farming practices such as grazing and mowing). Typical species are:
moor matgrass,
wavy hair-grass
''Deschampsia flexuosa'', commonly known as wavy hair-grass, is a species of bunchgrass in the grass family widely distributed in Eurasia, Africa, South America, and North America.
Description
Wavy hair-grass, ''Deschampsia flexuosa'', has wir ...
, species of ''
Agrostis
''Agrostis'' (bent or bentgrass) is a large and very nearly cosmopolitan genus of plants in the grass family, found in nearly all the countries in the world. It has been bred as a GMO creeping bent grass.
Species
* '' Agrostis aequivalvi'' ...
'',
sheep's fescue
''Festuca ovina'', sheep's fescue or sheep fescue, is a species of grass. It is sometimes confused with hard fescue (''Festuca trachyphylla'').
General description
It is a perennial plant sometimes found in acidic ground, and in mountain pastur ...
,
green-ribbed sedge,
cross-leaved heath
''Erica tetralix'', the cross-leaved heath, is a species of flowering plant in the family Ericaceae, native to western Europe, from southern Portugal to central Norway, as well as a number of boggy regions further from the coast in Central Europe ...
,
bell heather
''Erica cinerea'', the bell heather, is a species of flowering plant in the heath family Ericaceae, native to western and central Europe.
The plant provides a great deal of nectar for pollinators. It was rated in the top 5 for most nectar produc ...
,
bilberry
Bilberries (), or sometimes European blueberries, are a primarily Eurasian species of low-growing shrubs in the genus ''Vaccinium'' (family Ericaceae), bearing edible, dark blue berries. The species most often referred to is ''Vaccinium myrtillus ...
,
black crowberry
''Empetrum nigrum'', crowberry, black crowberry, or, in western Alaska, blackberry, is a flowering plant species in the heather family Ericaceae with a near circumboreal distribution in the Northern Hemisphere. It is usually dioecious, but there ...
,
deergrass Deergrass or deer grass is a common name for several plants and may refer to:
*''Muhlenbergia rigens'' - a perennial bunchgrass native to the southwestern United States and Mexico
*''Rhexia'' - a genus of plants in the family Melastomataceae
*''Tri ...
and
bog asphodel
''Narthecium ossifragum'', commonly known as bog asphodel, Lancashire asphodel or bastard asphodel, is a species of flowering plant in the family Nartheciaceae. It is native to Western Europe, found on wet, boggy moorlands up to about in ele ...
.
Bogs
Importance
Ireland possesses almost of actively growing
bog
A bog or bogland is a wetland that accumulates peat as a deposit of dead plant materials often mosses, typically sphagnum moss. It is one of the four main types of wetlands. Other names for bogs include mire, mosses, quagmire, and muskeg; a ...
s and
fen
A fen is a type of peat-accumulating wetland fed by mineral-rich ground or surface water. It is one of the main types of wetlands along with marshes, swamps, and bogs. Bogs and fens, both peat-forming ecosystems, are also known as mires. T ...
s. This compares with in the
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...
, each in
Switzerland
). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...
and
Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
and total loss in the
Netherlands
)
, anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau")
, image_map =
, map_caption =
, subdivision_type = Sovereign state
, subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands
, established_title = Before independence
, established_date = Spanish Netherl ...
and
Poland
Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...
. In Ireland in 1998 there were of
raised bog
Raised bogs, also called ombrotrophic bogs, are acidic, wet habitats that are poor in mineral salts and are home to flora and fauna that can cope with such extreme conditions. Raised bogs, unlike fens, are exclusively fed by precipitation ( ombro ...
at 164 sites (8% of original area), of
blanket bog
Blanket bog or blanket mire, also known as featherbed bog, is an area of peatland, forming where there is a climate of high rainfall and a low level of evapotranspiration, allowing peat to develop not only in wet hollows but over large expanses o ...
at 233 sites (18% of original area) and hectares of fen at 221 sites (58% of original area). These 200,000 hectares of actively growing raised and blanket bogs and fens are of European conservation importance.
Formation
In Ireland two factors led to the formation of such extensive peatlands. High rainfall- there are 175 rain-days each year in the west, southwest and northwest of Ireland and poor drainage The bogs formed at the end of the last ice age, about 10,000 years ago in the central lowlands of Ireland in basins of calcareous boulder clay. These became lakes overgrown with fen vegetation and infilled with fen peat which cut off the surface plants from mineral-rich water below. Nutrient-demanding fen plants were then replaced by bog mosses and plants which could survive on low levels of nutrients. The fen peat below prevented the rainwater draining away and the sponge-like bog moss and plants soaked it up.
Bog flora
The vascular plants characteristic of raised bogs (an example is the
Bog of Allen
The Bog of Allen ( ga, Móin Alúine) is a large raised bog in the centre of Ireland between the rivers Liffey and Shannon.
The bog's 958 square kilometers (370 square miles) stretch into County Offaly, County Meath, County Kildare, County Lao ...
) include:
common heather
''Calluna vulgaris'', common heather, ling, or simply heather, is the sole species in the genus ''Calluna'' in the flowering plant family Ericaceae. It is a low-growing evergreen shrub growing to tall, or rarely to and taller, and is found wide ...
,
cross-leaved heath
''Erica tetralix'', the cross-leaved heath, is a species of flowering plant in the family Ericaceae, native to western Europe, from southern Portugal to central Norway, as well as a number of boggy regions further from the coast in Central Europe ...
,
bell heather
''Erica cinerea'', the bell heather, is a species of flowering plant in the heath family Ericaceae, native to western and central Europe.
The plant provides a great deal of nectar for pollinators. It was rated in the top 5 for most nectar produc ...
,
bogbean
''Menyanthes'' is a monotypic genus of flowering plants in the family Menyanthaceae containing the single species ''Menyanthes trifoliata''. The North American form is often referred to as ''M. trifoliata'' var. ''minor'' Michx. It is known ...
,
hare's-tail cottongrass
''Lagurus'' is a genus of Old World plants in the grass family, native to the Mediterranean Basin and nearby regions, from Madeira and the Canary Islands to Crimea and Saudi Arabia. It is also naturalized in Australia, New Zealand, the Azor ...
,
common cottongrass
Common may refer to:
Places
* Common, a townland in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland
* Boston Common, a central public park in Boston, Massachusetts
* Cambridge Common, common land area in Cambridge, Massachusetts
* Clapham Common, originally com ...
,
bog-rosemary
''Andromeda polifolia'', common name bog-rosemary, is a species of flowering plant in the heath family Ericaceae, native to northern parts of the Northern Hemisphere. It is the only member of the genus ''Andromeda'', and is only found in bogs in ...
,
common cranberry,
bog asphodel
''Narthecium ossifragum'', commonly known as bog asphodel, Lancashire asphodel or bastard asphodel, is a species of flowering plant in the family Nartheciaceae. It is native to Western Europe, found on wet, boggy moorlands up to about in ele ...
,
bog myrtle
''Myrica gale'' is a species of flowering plant in the family Myricaceae, native to parts of Japan, North Korea, Russia, mainland Europe, the British Isles and parts of northern North America, in Canada and the United States. Common names include ...
, ''
Pedicularis sylvatica
''Pedicularis sylvatica'', commonly known as common lousewort, is a plant species in the genus ''Pedicularis''. It is native to central and northern Europe where it grows on moist acidic soils, moorland, grassy heathland and the drier parts of ma ...
'',
round-leaved sundew
''Drosera rotundifolia'', the round-leaved sundew, roundleaf sundew, or common sundew, is a carnivorous species of flowering plant that grows in bogs, marshes and fens. One of the most widespread sundew species, it has a circumboreal distribution ...
,
oblong-leaved sundew,
great sundew
''Drosera anglica'', commonly known as the English sundew or great sundew, is a carnivorous flowering plant species belonging to the sundew family Droseraceae. It is a temperate species with a circumboreal range, although it does occur as far sou ...
,
royal fern, species of ''
Utricularia
''Utricularia'', commonly and collectively called the bladderworts, is a genus of carnivorous plants consisting of approximately 233 species (precise counts differ based on classification opinions; a 2001 publication lists 215 species).Salmon, Br ...
'', ''
Juncus squarrosus
''Juncus squarrosus'', called goose corn, heath rush, and mosquito rush, is a species of flowering plant in the genus ''Juncus
''Juncus'' is a genus of monocotyledonous flowering plants, commonly known as rushes. It is the largest genus in the ...
'',
common tormentil
''Potentilla erecta'' (syn. ''Tormentilla erecta'', ''Potentilla laeta'', ''Potentilla tormentilla'', known as the (common) tormentil, septfoil or erect cinquefoil ) is a herbaceous perennial plant belonging to the rose family (Rosaceae).
Descri ...
,
black bogrush,
bog orchid,
Slender Scottish Eyebright (''
Euphrasia scottica
''Euphrasia'', or eyebright, is a genus of about 450 species of herbaceous flowering plants in the family Orobanchaceae (formerly included in the Scrophulariaceae), with a cosmopolitan distribution. They are semi-parasitic on grasses and other ...
''),
heath bedstraw
''Galium saxatile'' or heath bedstraw is a plant species of the genus ''Galium''. It is related to cleavers.
''Galium saxatile'' is a perennial mat-forming herb, found on grassland, moors, heaths and woods. It can reach a height of , and flower ...
,
green-ribbed sedge,
little green sedge,
black crowberry
''Empetrum nigrum'', crowberry, black crowberry, or, in western Alaska, blackberry, is a flowering plant species in the heather family Ericaceae with a near circumboreal distribution in the Northern Hemisphere. It is usually dioecious, but there ...
,
moor matgrass,
soft rush
''Juncus effusus'', with the common names common rush or soft rush, is a perennial herbaceous flowering plant species in the rush family Juncaceae. In North America, the common name soft rush also refers to '' Juncus interior''.
Distribution
'' ...
,
northern firmoss and
wolf's-foot clubmoss.
Cut-out raised bogs are colonised by a wet woodland of birch and alder trees. Characteristic species are
downy birch
''Betula pubescens'' (syn. ''Betula alba''), commonly known as downy birch and also as moor birch, white birch, European white birch or hairy birch, is a species of deciduous tree, native and abundant throughout northern Europe and northern Asia ...
,
black alder Black alder is a common name for several plants and may refer to:
*''Alnus glutinosa
''Alnus glutinosa'', the common alder, black alder, European alder, European black alder, or just alder, is a species of tree in the family Betulaceae, nativ ...
,
grey willow Grey willow or gray willow may refer to:
*''Salix atrocinerea'', a species of willow native to Europe commonly called grey willow
*''Salix cinerea'', a species of willow native to Europe and western Asia, also occasionally called grey sallow
*''Sal ...
,
crack willow
Crack frequently refers to:
* Crack, a fracture in a body
* Crack, a fracture (geology) in a rock
* Crack, short for crack cocaine
Crack may also refer to:
Art, entertainment, and media
* ''Cracks'' (film), a 2009 independent thriller
* Crac ...
,
broad buckler fern,
narrow buckler fern and
remote sedge.
Open water
Open water habitats include rivers, canals, lakes, reservoirs, ponds and, uniquely,
turloughs. Common species of wet places include
common reed
''Phragmites australis'', known as the common reed, is a species of plant. It is a broadly distributed wetland grass that can grow up to tall.
Description
''Phragmites australis'' commonly forms extensive stands (known as reed beds), which may ...
,
marsh willowherb,
common marsh bedstraw,
water avens
''Geum rivale'', the water avens, is a flowering plant in the genus ''Geum'' within the family Rosaceae. Other names for the plant are nodding avens, drooping avens, cure-all, water flower and Indian chocolate. It is native to the temperate regio ...
,
angelica
''Angelica'' is a genus of about 60 species of tall biennial and perennial herbs in the family Apiaceae, native to temperate and subarctic regions of the Northern Hemisphere, reaching as far north as Iceland, Lapland, and Greenland. They grow t ...
,
brooklime
''Veronica beccabunga'', the European speedwell or brooklime, is a succulent herbaceous perennial plant belonging to the flowering plant family Plantaginaceae. It grows on the margins of brooks and ditches in Europe, North Africa, and north and ...
,
marsh pennywort,
water plantain
''Alisma'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Alismataceae, members of which are commonly known as water-plantains. The genus consists of aquatic plants with leaves either floating or submerged, found in a variety of still water habit ...
,
marsh cinquefoil
''Comarum palustre'' ( syn. ''Potentilla palustris''), known by the common names purple marshlocks, swamp cinquefoil and marsh cinquefoil, is a common waterside shrub. It has a circumboreal distribution, occurring throughout North America, Europe ...
,
marsh marigold
''Caltha palustris'', known as marsh-marigold and kingcup, is a small to medium size perennial herbaceous plant of the buttercup family, native to marshes, fens, ditches and wet woodland in temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere. It flower ...
,
watermint,
yellow water lily,
bulrush
Bulrush is a vernacular name for several large wetland grass-like plants
*Sedge family (Cyperaceae):
**''Cyperus''
**''Scirpus''
**'' Blysmus''
**''Bolboschoenus''
**''Scirpoides''
**''Isolepis''
**''Schoenoplectus''
**''Trichophorum''
*Typhacea ...
and the invasive species
Canadian pondweed.
Sea shore
A much smaller fraction is occupied by coastal habitats (muddy shores,
rocky shore
A rocky shore is an intertidal area of seacoasts where solid rock predominates. Rocky shores are biologically rich environments, and are a useful "natural laboratory" for studying intertidal ecology and other biological processes. Due to their ...
s, sandy shores, shingle beaches, brackish water bodies, saltmarsh, maritime flushes and streams, sea cliffs and sand dunes and
machair
A machair (; sometimes machar in English) is a fertile low-lying grassy plain found on part of the northwest coastlines of Ireland and Scotland, in particular the Outer Hebrides. The best examples are found on North and South Uist, Harris an ...
).
![Looking west from Bishopsquarter, with sea mayweed - geograph](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/26/Looking_west_from_Bishopsquarter%2C_with_sea_mayweed_-_geograph.org.uk_-_65159.jpg)
Significant or characteristic species of sand dunes and dune slacks are: ''
Ammophila arenaria
''Ammophila arenaria'' is a species of grass in the family Poaceae. It is known by the common names marram grass and European beachgrass. It is one of two species of the genus ''Ammophila (Poaceae), Ammophila''. It is native to the coastlines of ...
'',
seaside sandplant,
sea milkwort,
pyramidal orchid
''Anacamptis pyramidalis'', the pyramidal orchid, is a perennial herbaceous plant belonging to the genus ''Anacamptis'' of the family Orchidaceae. The scientific name ''Anacamptis'' derives from Greek ανακάμτειν 'anakamptein' meaning 'b ...
,
sea holly Sea holly is a common name for several plants and may refer to:
* ''Acanthus ebracteatus''
* '' Eryngium'' species, especially:
** ''Eryngium maritimum
''Eryngium maritimum'', the sea holly or sea eryngo, or sea eryngium, is a perennial species ...
,
sea lyme grass,
heartsease
''Viola tricolor'' is a common European wild flower, growing as an annual or short-lived perennial. The species is also known as wild pansy, Johnny Jump up (though this name is also applied to similar species such as the yellow pansy), heartsea ...
,
houndstongue,
common centaury,
fairy flax
''Linum catharticum'', also known as purging flax, or fairy flax, is an herbaceous flowering plant in the family Linaceae, native to Great Britain, Iceland, central Europe and Western Asia. It is an annual plant and blooms in July and August.
It ...
,
seashore false bindweed,
dovesfoot cranesbill,
bee orchid Bee orchid is a common name for several orchids and may refer to:
*'' Cottonia peduncularis'', a species of orchid from India and Sri Lanka
*'' Diuris carinata'', a species of orchid from the south-west of Western Australia
*'' Ida barringtoniae'', ...
and
stone bramble
''Rubus saxatilis'', or stone bramble, is a species of bramble widespread across Europe and Asia from Iceland and Spain east as far as China. It has also been found in Greenland.
The green stems are 20–60 cm tall and covered with minute n ...
. Saltmarsh species include ''
Salicornia europaea
''Salicornia europaea'', known as common glasswort or just glasswort, is a halophyte, halophytic annual dicot flowering plant in the family Amaranthaceae. Glasswort is a succulent herb also known as ‘Pickle weed’ or ‘Samphire, Marsh samph ...
'',
sea purslane,
sea arrowgrass
''Triglochin maritima'' is a species of flowering plant in the arrowgrass family Juncaginaceae. It is found in brackish marshes, freshwater marshes, wet sandy beaches, fens, damp grassland and bogs. It has a circumboreal distribution, occurring ...
,
greater sea-spurry and
common scurvygrass.
Karst
Karst
Karst is a topography formed from the dissolution of soluble rocks such as limestone, dolomite, and gypsum. It is characterized by underground drainage systems with sinkholes and caves. It has also been documented for more weathering-resistant ro ...
, inland cliffs and scarps
The Burren
Over 70% of Ireland's 900 native species occur in
The Burren
The Burren (; ) is a karst/glaciokarst landscape centred in County Clare, on the west coast of Ireland.
Burren ...
which is less than 0.5% of the area of Ireland.
The Burren contains twelve Annex 1 habitats listed in the EU
Habitats Directive
The Habitats Directive (more formally known as Council Directive 92/43/EEC on the Conservation of natural habitats and of wild fauna and flora) is a directive adopted by the European Community in 1992 as a response to the Berne Convention. The E ...
. A 2001 survey found 28 different species per square meter (averaged over 1,100 vegetation samples) in upland grasslands, with up to 45 species per square metre in some samples.
22 of Ireland's 27 native orchid species are found in the region. Such high diversity has several explanations. Firstly, several hundred square kilometers of species-rich unimproved limestone grasslands and upland pastures grazed mainly in winter, a practice which removes potentially dominant grass and weed species. Secondly, there is a mixture of
Arctic–alpine
An Arctic–alpine taxon is one whose natural distribution includes the Arctic and more southerly mountain ranges, particularly the Alps. The presence of identical or similar taxa in both the tundra of the far north, and high mountain ranges much f ...
and
Mediterranean
The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the e ...
species, and
calcicole
A calcicole, calciphyte or calciphile is a plant that thrives in lime rich soil. The word is derived from the Latin 'to dwell on chalk'. Under acidic conditions, aluminium becomes more soluble and phosphate less. As a consequence, calcicoles grown ...
and
calcifuge
A calcifuge is a plant that does not tolerate alkaline (basic) soil. The word is derived from the Latin 'to flee from chalk'. These plants are also described as ericaceous, as the prototypical calcifuge is the genus ''Erica'' (heaths). It is not ...
species. The area is dominated by bare rock and
rendzina
Rendzina (or ''rendsina'') is a soil type recognized in various soil classification systems, including those of Britain and Germany as well as some obsolete systems. They are humus-rich shallow soils that are usually formed from carbonate- or occ ...
soils.
Woodland
![Portglenone Forest Bluebells - May 2008](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2f/Portglenone_Forest_Bluebells_-_May_2008.jpg)
Woodland plants include
wood sorrel
''Oxalis'' ( (American English) or (British English)) is a large genus of flowering plants in the wood-sorrel family Oxalidaceae, comprising over 550 species. The genus occurs throughout most of the world, except for the polar areas; species di ...
,
blackthorn
''Prunus spinosa'', called blackthorn or sloe, is a species of flowering plant in the rose family Rosaceae. The species is native to Europe, western Asia, and regionally in northwest Africa. It is locally naturalized in New Zealand, Tasmania, ...
,
bird's nest orchid
''Neottia nidus-avis'', the bird's-nest orchid, is a non- photosynthetic orchid, native to Europe, Russia and some parts of the Middle East.
Description
''Neottia nidus-avis'' grows to tall and each shoot can carry up to 60 flowers. Plants a ...
,
wood anemone The phrase wood anemone is used in common names for several closely related species of flowering plants in genus ''Anemonoides'', including:
* ''Anemonoides nemorosa
''Anemonoides nemorosa'' (syn. ''Anemone nemorosa''), the wood anemone, is an e ...
,
bluebell,
wood avens
''Geum urbanum'', also known as wood avens, herb Bennet, colewort and St. Benedict's herb (Latin ''herba benedicta''), is a perennial plant in the rose family (Rosaceae), which grows in shady places (such as woodland edges and near hedgerows) in ...
,
bugle
The bugle is one of the simplest brass instruments, normally having no valves or other pitch-altering devices. All pitch control is done by varying the player's embouchure.
History
The bugle developed from early musical or communication ...
,
ramsons
''Allium ursinum'', known as wild garlic, ramsons, cowleekes, cows's leek, cowleek, buckrams, broad-leaved garlic, wood garlic, bear leek, Eurasian wild garlic or bear's garlic, is a bulbous perennial flowering plant in the amaryllis family Amary ...
,
self-heal
''Prunella'' is a genus of herbaceous plants in the family Lamiaceae, also known as self-heals, heal-all, or allheal for their use in herbal medicine.
Habitat
Most are native to Europe, Asia, and North Africa, but ''Prunella vulgaris'' (common ...
,
dog violet
Dog violet is the common name for various species of the plant genus ''Viola'' with unscented flowers. The term arose to differentiate them from the scented sweet violet. Species so named include:
*''Viola canina'' – heath dog violet
*''Viola la ...
,
honeysuckle
Honeysuckles are arching shrubs or twining vines in the genus ''Lonicera'' () of the family Caprifoliaceae, native to northern latitudes in North America and Eurasia. Approximately 180 species of honeysuckle have been identified in both contin ...
,
holly
''Ilex'' (), or holly, is a genus of over 570 species of flowering plants in the family Aquifoliaceae, and the only living genus in that family. ''Ilex'' has the most species of any woody dioecious angiosperm genus. The species are evergreen o ...
,
lords and ladies,
herb robert
''Geranium robertianum'', commonly known as herb-Robert, or (in North America) Roberts geranium, is a common species of cranesbill native to Europe and parts of Asia, and North Africa. The plant has many vernacular names, including red robin, de ...
and
woody nightshade
''Solanum dulcamara'' is a species of vine in the genus ''Solanum'' (which also includes the potato and the tomato) of the family Solanaceae. Common names include bittersweet, bittersweet nightshade, bitter nightshade, blue bindweed, Amara Dulci ...
. Woods dominated by oak and birch, with lesser amounts of rowan, holly, hazel, yew and aspen are called western oakwoods and occur principally in the uplands of Ireland, Scotland and Wales.
They are
temperate rainforest
Temperate rainforests are coniferous or broadleaf forests that occur in the temperate zone and receive heavy rain.
Temperate rain forests occur in oceanic moist regions around the world: the Pacific temperate rain forests of North American Paci ...
s.
Artificial habitats
![Irish graveyard](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c6/Irish_graveyard.jpg)
Quarries, gravel and sand pits, roads and railways, field boundaries, walls, waste ground and rubbish tips contain such plant species as
common ragwort,
pineapple weed,
hairy bindweed,
creeping buttercup
''Ranunculus repens'', the creeping buttercup, is a flowering plant in the buttercup family Ranunculaceae, native to Europe, Asia and northwestern Africa.
Habitat
It is a very common weed of agricultural land and gardens, spreading quickly by it ...
,
common daisy
''Bellis perennis'' (), the daisy, is a European species of the family Asteraceae, often considered the archetypal species of the name daisy. To distinguish this species from other plants known as daisies, it is sometimes qualified as common dai ...
,
catsear
Cat's ear is the common name for several species of flowering plants:
*''Hypochaeris'' species, especially ''Hypochaeris radicata''
* Some ''Calochortus
''Calochortus'' is a genus of flowering plants in the lily family. The group includes h ...
,
coltsfoot,
fat hen,
nettle
{{redirect, Nettle
Nettle refers to plants with stinging hairs, particularly those of the genus ''Urtica''. It can also refer to plants which resemble ''Urtica'' species in appearance but do not have stinging hairs. Plants called "nettle" include ...
,
redshank,
germander speedwell
''Veronica chamaedrys'', the germander speedwell, bird's-eye speedwell, or cat's eyes, is a herbaceous perennial species of flowering plant in the plantain family Plantaginaceae.
Description
''Veronica chamaedrys'' can grow to tall, but is freq ...
,
ivy-leaved toadflax,
rosebay willowherb
''Chamaenerion angustifolium'' is a perennial herbaceous flowering plant in the willowherb family Onagraceae. It is known in North America as fireweed, in some parts of Canada as great willowherb, in Britain and Ireland as rosebay willowherb. In ...
,
great willowherb
''Epilobium hirsutum'' is a flowering plant belonging to the willowherb genus ''Epilobium'' in the family Onagraceae. It is commonly known as the great willowherb, great hairy willowherb or hairy willowherb. Local names include codlins-and-cream, ...
and
wall pennywort
''Umbilicus rupestris'', the navelwort, penny-pies or wall pennywort, is a fleshy, perennial, edible flowering plant in the stonecrop family Crassulaceae in the genus ''Umbilicus (plant), Umbilicus'' so named for its umbilicate (navel-like) leave ...
.
Cultivated ground (arable and horticultural land)
Julie A. Fossitt gives a habitat classification.
Conservation
Threats to the flora include agriculture, drainage, housing developments, golf courses, mowing of roadside verges and
introduced species
An introduced species, alien species, exotic species, adventive species, immigrant species, foreign species, non-indigenous species, or non-native species is a species living outside its native distributional range, but which has arrived there ...
. Conservation agencies include the National Parks and Wildlife Service (Ireland), the
Northern Ireland Environment Agency
The Northern Ireland Environment Agency (NIEA) is an executive agency within the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA). It is responsible for conservation of Northern Ireland's environment and natural heritage.
Origi ...
, th
Environmental Protection Agencyand the
Royal Society for the Protection of Birds
The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) is a charitable organisation registered in England and Wales and in Scotland. It was founded in 1889. It works to promote conservation and protection of birds and the wider environment throug ...
. There is a Threatened Species Programme at the
National Botanic Gardens. There was also a range of Non-Governmental Organisations in Ireland dedicated to preserving plant habitats such as the
Irish Peatland Conservation Council The Irish Peatland Conservation Council (IPCC; ) is a national charitable organisation established in 1982 to conserve and protect a representative sample of Republic of Ireland, Irish bogs, and to campaign on bog-related issues.
History
Having bee ...
, the
Irish Wildlife Trust The Irish Wildlife Trust has been a nature conservation charity and lobbyist in Ireland since 1979. It was renamed from the Irish Wildlife Federation. The head office is based in Glasnevin, in Dublin. One of the founders of the Irish Wildlife Trust ...
and the
Native Woodland Trust
The Native Woodland Trust is an Irish environmental non-governmental organisation established in 2000 with the aims of restoring and protecting Irish native woodland. The Trust is dedicated to protecting the remains of Ireland's ancient woodlands ...
.
Herbaria
Major
herbaria
A herbarium (plural: herbaria) is a collection of preserved plant specimens and associated data used for scientific study.
The specimens may be whole plants or plant parts; these will usually be in dried form mounted on a sheet of paper (called ...
are conserved at the
National Botanic Gardens and the
Ulster Museum
The Ulster Museum, located in the Botanic Gardens in Belfast, has around 8,000 square metres (90,000 sq. ft.) of public display space, featuring material from the collections of fine art and applied art, archaeology, ethnography, treasure ...
.
See also
*
Atlases of the flora and fauna of Britain and Ireland The biodiversity of Great Britain and Ireland is one of the most well-studied geographical areas of its size in the world. This biota work has resulted in the publication of distribution atlases for many taxonomic groups. This page lists these pub ...
*
National Parks in the Republic of Ireland
This is a list of national parks of Ireland.
The chart below shows the national parks in Ireland. The first park established in Ireland was Killarney National Park located in County Kerry in 1932. Since then a further five national parks have be ...
*
List of Special Areas of Conservation in Northern Ireland
Special Areas of Conservation in Northern Ireland are part of the European Union's Natura 2000 network of sites with special flora or fauna.
Northern Ireland has 54 SACs:
See also
*Special Area of Conservation
*Special Protection Area
Refere ...
*
British National Vegetation Classification
__NOTOC__
The British National Vegetation Classification or NVC is a system of classifying natural habitat types in Great Britain according to the vegetation they contain.
A large scientific meeting of ecologists, botanists, and other related pr ...
- broadly applicable but see Fossitt (2000).
*
Trees of Britain and Ireland
Many lists of trees of Great Britain and Ireland have been written. There are a number of issues surrounding the inclusion of a species in such a list. As can be seen from the outline of debate below, there is no 'correct' list of trees of Britain ...
*
List of the orchids of Ireland
This is an annotated list of the orchids found in Ireland.
Genus ''Anacamptis'' Rich.
*''Anacamptis morio'' (Linnaeus) R.M.Bateman, Pridgeon & M.W.Chase.
Distribution. Southern half of Ireland but not SouthwesMapref name="Scannell, M.J.P. & Syn ...
*Landforms of Ireland
:Landforms of Ireland
*
Lusitanian flora
The Lusitanian flora is a small assemblage of plants that show a restricted and specific distribution in that they are mostly only to be found in the Iberian Peninsula or southwest Ireland. Generally, the plants are not found in England or western ...
*
Invasion biology terminology
The need for a clearly defined and consistent invasion biology terminology has been acknowledged by many sources. ''Invasive species'', or ''invasive exotics'', is a nomenclature term and categorization phrase used for flora and fauna, and fo ...
History of botany in Ireland
*
Topographia Hibernica
''Topographia Hibernica'' (Latin for ''Topography of Ireland''), also known as ''Topographia Hiberniae'', is an account of the landscape and people of Ireland written by Gerald of Wales around 1188, soon after the Norman invasion of Ireland. ...
An early (1180) account of the flora by Gerald of Wales.
*
Thomas Dix Hincks
Thomas Dix Hincks (1767 in Dublin, Ireland – 1857 in Belfast, Ireland) was an Irish orientalist and naturalist. He was a founding member of the Belfast Natural History Society and a member of the Royal Irish Academy.
Education
Hincks was e ...
On early Contributions to the Flora of Ireland; with Remarks on Mr. Mackay's Flora Hibernica ''Annals and Magazine of Natural History'' 6: 1-12 continued 126-135 (184
an
*
Caleb Threlkeld
Caleb Threlkeld (1676–1728) was an Irish botanist, dissenting cleric and physician
A physician (American English), medical practitioner (Commonwealth English), medical doctor, or simply doctor, is a health professional who practices ...
*
John Templeton
Sir John Marks Templeton (29 November 1912 – 8 July 2008) was an American-born British investor, banker, fund manager, and philanthropist. In 1954, he entered the mutual fund market and created the Templeton Growth Fund, which averaged grow ...
*
Thomas Coulter
Thomas Coulter (1793–1843), of Dundalk, was an Irish physician, botanist and explorer. He was a member of the Royal Irish Academy, a fellow of Trinity College, Dublin, and founder of that college's herbarium.
After completing a medical degree ...
*
Clare Island Survey
The Clare island Survey was a multidisciplinary (zoological, botanical, archaeological, and geological) survey of Clare Island an island off the West coast of Ireland.
The survey which followed a similar survey of Lambay Island in 1905 and 190 ...
Further reading
*David Cabot, 2009 ''Ireland'' Collins
New Naturalist Series Natural history of Ireland biological history, geology and climate, habitats and nature conservation.Flora and fauna.
*Curtis, T. G. F & Thompson R., 2009 ''The Orchids of Ireland'' National Museums Northern Ireland
*Curtis, T. G. F. and McGough, H. N. (1988). ''The Irish Red Data Book''. 1: ''Vascular Plants''. The Stationery Office, Dublin.
*Declan Doogue and Carsten Krieger, 2010 ''The wild flowers of Ireland'' : ''the habitat guide'' Dublin : Gill & Macmillan
*''Fitzgerald Interactive Flora of the Burren, Ireland'' Interactive CD photographs and information on
dicotyledon
The dicotyledons, also known as dicots (or, more rarely, dicotyls), are one of the two groups into which all the flowering plants (angiosperms) were formerly divided. The name refers to one of the typical characteristics of the group: namely, t ...
plants of the Burren, the
Aran Islands
The Aran Islands ( ; gle, Oileáin Árann, ) or The Arans (''na hÁrainneacha'' ) are a group of three islands at the mouth of Galway Bay, off the west coast of Republic of Ireland, Ireland, with a total area around . They constitute the histo ...
and to the east of
Connemara
Connemara (; )( ga, Conamara ) is a region on the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic coast of western County Galway, in the west of Ireland. The area has a strong association with traditional Irish culture and contains much of the Connacht Irish-speak ...
*Nelson, E. C. & Walsh, W. F. 1991. ''The Burren: a companion to the wildflowers of an Irish limestone wilderness''. Aberystwyth & Bonis: Boethius Press & The Conservancy of The Burren.
*Nelson, E. C., 2008 ''Wild Plants of The Burren and the Aran Islands''. New enlarged edition Collins Press
*Green, P.,2008 ''Flora of County Waterford'' National Botanic Gardens of Ireland
*O'Mahony, T.,2009 ''Wildflowers of Cork City and County'' Collins Press
*McNeill, I., 2010 ''Flora of County Tyrone'' National Museums Northern Ireland
*Morton, O. 1994. ''Marine Algae of Northern Ireland''. Ulster Museum publication No. 271.
*Preston C.D., 2007 Which vascular plants are found at the northern or southern edges of their European range in the British Isles? ''Watsonia'' 26: 253–2
pdf
*Reilly P. A., 2001 ''The Flora of County Cavan'' National Botanic Gardens, Glasnevin
*Reynolds, S. C. P. (2002). ''A catalogue of alien plants in Ireland''. pp.
1–413. Dublin: National Botanical Gardens, Glasnevin.
*Scannell, M. J. P. & Synnott, D. M. (1987). ''Census catalogue of the flora of Ireland. A list of Pteridophyta,
Gymnospermae
The gymnosperms ( lit. revealed seeds) are a group of seed-producing plants that includes conifers, cycads, ''Ginkgo'', and gnetophytes, forming the clade Gymnospermae. The term ''gymnosperm'' comes from the composite word in el, γυμνόσ ...
and
Angiospermae
Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (), commonly called angiosperms. The term "angiosperm" is derived from the Greek words ('container, vessel') and ('seed'), and refers to those plants th ...
including all the native plants and established aliens known to occur in Ireland with the distribution of each species, and recommended Irish and English names''. pp.
xxvii, 1–171, map. Dublin: Stationery Office.
*Smith, A. J. E. The Moss Flora of Britain and Ireland ''Cambridge University Press''
References
External links
Habitas.org: Flora of Northern IrelandHabitas.org: Lichen of Ireland National Biodiversity Network: Distribution Maps— ''(ongoing project)''.
— ''overview and downloadable free lists of
vascular plants
Vascular plants (), also called tracheophytes () or collectively Tracheophyta (), form a large group of land plants ( accepted known species) that have lignified tissues (the xylem) for conducting water and minerals throughout the plant. They al ...
,
Bryophyta, and
Characeae
Characeae is a family of freshwater green algae in the order Charales, commonly known as stoneworts. They are also known as brittleworts or skunkweed, from the fragility of their lime-encrusted stems, and from the foul odor these produce when step ...
''.
Red Data List Vascular Plants of IrelandBiodiversityIreland.ie: National Biodiversity Data Centre— ''(Waterford)''
Herbaria United— ''choose Ireland from the country menu to view digital images of 3000+ herbarium specimens collected in Ireland.''
Species.ie: Irish Species Register— ''access the lists via the Taxonomy Browser''.
Biological Records Centre.uk: Online Atlas of the British and Irish flora — ''access by species''.
Irish Wildflowers website— ''very well planned with species listed A–Z, by habitat, by flowering time, and by colour + "amateur" images rich.''
Burrenbeo.com: Ecology learning libraryFieldmycology.net: Fungal Records Database for Britain and Ireland — ''image rich gallery''.
National Parks and Wildlife Service of IrelandBSBI Maps{{Vascular plants of Britain and Ireland
F
F