Plants of Skye, Raasay & The Small Isles

After yet another trip to the dentist in Kyle I ventured farther into the foreign territory of VC 105, Wester Ross. I had promised Duncan, my opposite number, a decent grid reference for some Myrrhis odorata (Sweet Cicely) spotted last year. This achieved I also noted Parnassia palustris (Grass-of-Parnassus), Bromopsis ramosa (Hairy-brome) and Juncus tenuis (Slender Rush) in what looks like a new 10 km square for all three.

Back on Skye I tried for Hesperis matronalis (Dame’s-violet) in one site from 1985-1987 and another not far away from earlier this year but without success.  However, I did find only the second vice-county location for Spiraea x rosalba (Intermediate Bridewort) near Lusa – Spiraea x pseudosalicifolia (Confused Bridewort) is, of course all over the place.

Photo: S. Terry

Recently Steve reported Odontites vernus (Red Bartsia) that looked good for subsp. litoralis: but a look at the whole population and the non-littoral habitat makes me think it is subsp. vernus, the only subspecies recorded in VC 104:

Odontites vernus

This area has many garden plants such as Aquilegia vulgaris (Columbine), Crocosmia x crocosmiiflora (Montbretia), Euphorbia dulcis (Sweet Spurge), Gaultheria mucronata (Prickly Heath) and Ribes nigrum (Black Currant).

Passing through Broadford I noticed Pilosella aurantiaca (Fox-and-cubs) in a different place from where Steve spotted it last year in the same general area.  By that time I was heading for Kilmarie where the old graveyard yielded masses of Glechoma hederacea (Ground-ivy) not recorded from that area since 1987 and Polypodium interjectum (Intermediate Polypody) not recorded from that area since 1966.

Kilmarie also yielded a record for Sycamore tarspot (Rhytisma acerinum) – the fungus that makes black spots on sycamore leaves – which makes a significant contribution to the known vice-county distribution:

Sycamore Tarspot Map

As a final flourish, I recorded Rumex longifolius (Northern Dock) from Strollamus, the first record for that 10 km square since 1987, albeit at the other end of the square. R. longifolius has been recorded in many more squares in recent years but there is a gap in southern Skye – see map.  Most records are from roadsides but there also some from other ruderal sites.

Ro and I spent a few hours west of Fiskavaig on Tuesday, targeted at a tetrad with only 27 taxa recorded, all from a couple of lochs and all pre-2000. Before we reached it we found a ruderal area with Geranium dissectum (Cut-leaved Crane’s-bill), an infrequent plant in VC104 and not previously known from this 10 km square.

The weather wasn’t at its best but we found some quite nice species such as Carex limosa (Bog-sedge) and Utricularia minor (Lesser Bladderwort) in the lochs and lochans, and the burns and coastal cliffs contributed to a reasonable list including Galium verum (Lady’s Bedstraw) which has a very westerly distribution on Skye.  The coastal scenery was excellent:

and Dun Ard an t-Sabhail still has something to show of its original form:

Dun Ard an t-Sabhail

Nick gave me some grass from his garden at Earlish which I immediately thought was Vulpia myuros (Rat’s-tail Fescue) and further assessment confirms this, though since it may have come from birdseed I am reserving the right to change my mind to something even more exotic.

Vulpia myuros

I identified this for NTS a couple of years ago as it had appeared in their meadow at Kirkton after they had used a wild flower seed mix from Scotia Seeds. The only previous VC104 record is an anonymous 1949 from NM48 (Eigg or Muck).

Meanwhile, John gave me the biggest Bromus hordaceus (Soft-brome) I have ever seen at 1.07m tall. Inflorescence:

Bromus hordaceus

Today, Ro and I went to have a look at John’s Ononis repens (Restharrow) which turned out to still have a few flowers on it. Most of the fruits had not formed but at least one pod was full, so there is hope of it reproducing.  It is right on the edge of the road and so in danger from the mad verge-cutters – though it looks old enough to have survived for a couple of years.

Ononis repens

The August meeting of the Skye Botany Group took on a section of the Trotternish Ridge just south of the Quiraing.  The tetrad only had three post-1999 records and a total of 80 taxa recorded ever.  We did well on the hill finding most of the expected montane flora including Poa glauca (Glaucous Meadow-grass) and Saxifraga oppositifolia (Purple Saxifrage), though missing out on Saxifraga nivalis (Alpine Saxifrage).  We spotted Polystichum lonchitis (Holly Fern) in several places:

Polystichum lonchitis

The lochs were more disappointing in that we were unable to find the previously recorded Elatine hexandra (Six-stamened Waterwort) or Subularia aquatica (Awlwort).  At the end, a couple of us checked on the Berula erecta (Lesser Water-parsnip) and added it as a new record to the next tetrad to the north (just).

Thirteen of us took part in the August meeting, including two visitors from the Remote South. Plans are afoot for a September meeting on the coast.