
Plants in Vice-county 104: A Review of July - December 2022
About 50 new hectad records were made in VC104 in the second half of 2022 bringing the year’s total to over 140. Over 6,600 2022 records have been transferred to the DDb including over 20 new vice-county records for the year.
Skye Botany Group’s project with the Darwin Tree of Life project resulted in more new sites for P. x mantoniae (P. interjectum x vulgare). A specimen of Ophioglossum azoricum (Small Adder’s-tongue) from Raasay was taken for whole genome analysis.
SBG members were further involved in BSBI’s SHARP Project and had success in the second half of the year with e.g. Euphrasia heslop-harrisonii (an Eyebright) at Broadford, Atriplex praecox (Early Orache) from the Braes area and Zostera marina (Eelgrass) at Coral Beach. Some plants on the SHARPP list for VC104 are taxa whose nomenclature is in a state of flux e.g. Cochlearia officinalis subsp. scotica and Rhinanthus minor subsp. borealis, or whose actual taxonomic status is in question, e.g. Euphrasia arctica x marshallii. Some of these plants have been re-found in/near their previous locations but they are no longer what we thought they were, so whether we can say they have been re-found (even though they may have been), is debatable!
Members of SBG completed the survey of Broadford for the Urban Flora of Scotland project. Surveys covered six monads and resulted in over 900 records.Eight Hieracium (Hawkweed) specimens were sent for expert determination. All bar two were the relatively common H. anglicum (English Hawkweed), H. shoolbredii (Shoolbred’s Hawkweed) and H. triviale (Common Hawkweed). The remaining two were initially determined as H. langwellense (Langwell Hawkweed) and H. orcadense (Orkney Hawkweed), both of which would have been valuable records. However, I made the mistake of querying one of them and now they have both been reduced to INDET.
This year’s additions to VC104:
Allium moly | Yellow Garlic |
Anchusa azurea | Garden Anchusa |
Astilbe rivularis* | River Astilbe |
Brassica oleracea cv. | Cabbage cultivar |
Carex riparia | Greater Pond-sedge |
Crocus tommasinianus | Early Crocus |
Echinops bannaticus | Blue Globe-thistle |
Euphrasia arctica x heslop-harrisonii | An Eyebright hybrid |
Filipendula camtschatica | Giant Meadowsweet |
Fritillaria meleagris | Fritillary |
Helianthus annuus | Sunflower |
Hyacinthus orientalis | Hyacinth |
Levisticum officinale | Lovage |
Libertia formosa | Chilean-iris |
Malus sylvestris s.s. | Crab Apple |
Persicaria nepalensis | Nepal Persicaria |
Phedimus kamtschaticus | Kamchatka Stonecrop |
Pilosella caespitosa | Yellow Fox-and-cubs |
Poterium sanguisorba subsp. balearicum | Fodder Burnet |
Sorbaria kirilowii | Chinese Sorbaria |
Taraxacum pseudohamatum | A Dandelion |
*Astilbe rivularis Buch.-Ham. Ex D.Don (not Astilbe rivularis auct. non Buch.-Ham. Ex D.Don = A. chinensis (Maxim.) Franch. & Sav.). First record for the British Isles.
Not seen since before 2000:
Taxon | Vernacular | Year of last record |
Euphrasia arctica x marshallii | An Eyebright hybrid | 1979 |
Erysimum cheiri | Wallflower | 1980 |
Polypodium x mantoniae | Manton's Polypody | 1983 |
Symphytum officinale* | Common Comfrey | 1984 |
Saxifraga umbrosa** | Pyrenean Saxifrage | 1987-1999 |
*Many earlier records for Symphytum officinale may be errors for S. x uplandicum (Russian Comfrey).
**The only previous record for Saxifraga umbrosa in VC104 is from Portree and is anonymous and undated. It is very likely an error for Saxifraga x urbium (Londonpride) which is known from several sites in Portree. Therefore, this is very probably also a first vice-county record.
Stephen J Bungard
January 2023
County Recorders
The County Recorders are Dr Stephen J. Bungard, to whom records should be sent, and Joanna Walmisley.
Stephen's email: [email protected]
Joanna's email: [email protected]
Stephen's postal address: Ceol-na-Mara, West Suisnish, Isle of Raasay, by Kyle, IV40 8NX
Stephen's landline: 01478 660248 and mobile: 07549 184831
Read Stephen's Blog
- List of axiophytes in v.c. 104 (xlsx file) more about axiophytes...
- Rare Plant Register 2013
- My Flora of Raasay & Rona
Skye Botany Group
Skye Botany Group organises about six field trips per year from May to September. Everyone is welcome. For more information please contact Stephen Bungard.
County Recorder's report
Read the 2021 report.
Read the 2020 report.
Half-year Plant Reports
Flora of Skye
For photographs of the plants of Skye, visit Carl Farmer’s fine web site Skye Flora.
