Remarkable botanical records from Corrour in Westerness (v.c.97), including Baldellia repens (Alismataceae) and Illecebrum verticillatum (Caryophyllaceae), new to Scotland
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.33928/bib.2022.04.227Keywords:
biological records, distribution, aquatic plants, establishment, spread, native originAbstract
Biological recording in Britain has increased in accessibility and popularity due to recent technological advances. However, remote locations may still be under-recorded, particularly for aquatic plants and taxonomically challenging groups. We describe a set of notable botanical discoveries made in 2021 at Corrour in the Scottish Highlands (v.c.97 Westerness), including Baldellia repens, Illecebrum verticillatum (new to Scotland) and six British altitudinal records. At the time of writing, there are now four Nationally Rare vascular plant taxa recorded on the estate and 29 Nationally Scarce taxa. These findings demonstrate the value of collaboration between land managers, ecologists, BSBI staff and the local community. Both B. repens and I. verticillatum are well established at Corrour in considerable abundance and with clear evidence of regeneration. B. repens also occurs in the Tay catchment and may have arrived at Corrour via vegetative dispersal by waterfowl. The origin of I. verticillatum is more ambiguous but suggested mechanisms of dispersal include forestry, the railway or hydroelectricity workings. Despite a likely element of accidental human-mediated spread, I. verticillatum should be considered an intriguing addition to the flora of Westerness. Climate change could facilitate further establishment of this taxa in northern parts of Britain, and it is likely that other new records of both B. repens and I. verticillatum await.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2022 Sarah Watts, Ian Strachan, Richard Marriott
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Copyright and licence: Authors (or their employers) retain their copyright in articles and images published in British & Irish Botany and are not required to assign this to the Botanical Society of Britain & Ireland (BSBI). All that BSBI requires from authors is a license to publish the article in British & Irish Botany and make it freely available to all in pdf format under the terms of Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Public License, which also enables BSBI to reproduce components of the article in other BSBI outputs (eg. BSBI News, the BSBI website and/or the BSBI News & Views blog) for publicity purposes. The licence code can be accessed here: