Plant splendour in Scotland

In Scotland vegetation types appear which are characteristic for the Atlantic climate. The woodlands in Scotland are generally broad-leaved forests. Beech groves appear on poorer grounds and here you will also find green taxus, holly and rowan.

  Rowan

In the more humid forests we find an undergrowth of wood anemone, annual mercury, blue bilberry and bracken. In West-Scotland bunches of ashes stand along the river Nevis and on the mount slopes. The undergrowth here is much more varied, with among other plants hazel tree, clematis, hawthorn, red dogwood. On the ground forest forget-me-not grow, squinancy-wort and great butterfly-orchid.

 Greater butterfly orchid

Birch forests in Scotland grow as from sea level to an altitude of 1.968,50 feet. The trees are quite far away from each other. Conifers do not appear naturally in Scotland, so most conifers have been planted.
A large part of the Highlands are just poor, treeless highlands. About 4000 years ago the landscape was completely different: the country was mostly covered with native pine trees, Scots pine. These original forests have almost disappeared and have been replaced with a 13,12 feet thick layer of marshes and turf. Natural Scots Pine these days can only be found on the Central and Eastern Highlands. These so-called Caledonian pine-tree forests are often accompanied by rowan, gentle birch and poplar. The ground is covered by juniper bush, heather, fox bay and tormentil.

                                                                           
     
Tormentil

Scotland is well known for its extended heath land fields, which are kept in score by grazing or burning down. There are several types heath land. The dry can be found in East-Scotland and has a rather closed cultivation with shrub heath land, red capsule heath land, crow heath land, roaring rack, blue bilberry and fox bay. On poor grounds in especially West-Scotland wet heath land arises, with especially capsule heath land and further some types of willow tree, Peat Common cotton grass and Deer grass.

Peat Common cotton grass

In areas of wet heath land peat can easily develop. Here, among other things, heath land trust booklet, Bog Asphodel, and Sphagnum grow.

Bog Asphodel  

In valleys less high peat or `raised bogs” can develop, with peat common cotton grass, cranberry, capsule heath land and shrub heath land as most important cultivation. In present pools, among others, small water lobelia and Menyanthes trifoliata grow. Layer peat develops independently of rain water and arises in valleys.

The mild climate of Scotland tolerates half natural pastures. The richest pastures can especially be found in the river valleys, where the ground is neutral and quite wet. The higher the grazing cows and sheep are, the fewer types occur. In this type of poor pastures especially white clover, dandelion, land horn flower and butter flower occur.

land horn flower

the `taxus of Fortingall’

On the green slope of the mount Ben Lawers in Perthshire at the exit of the valley of Glen Ogle on can find the Fortingall Yew, the `taxus of Fortingall’. This tree which is about 3000 years old is perhaps the oldest in the whole of Europe is.

In the hamlet Meikleour one can find a giant beech hedge which is with approximately 27 meters the highest in the world. It was planted in 1747, and grows still.

Primula Scotica

The flora of the Scottish Highlands is very varied: more than 900 of in total 1700 plant varieties which are identified in Great Britain, occur in Scotland. The thistle, symbol of Scotland and Primula Scotia, Scottish key flower, are best known. Since the middle ages plants have been used to define the different clans. Around 1470 the Scottish kings chose the thistle as royal symbol for the first time. The pink flowering key flower occurs only in Northern Scotland and the Orkney islands and further nowhere else in the world. In areas where snow lasts long, only especially adapted flora such as lady’s mantle, sibbaldia and liverworts can survive.

Yellow saxifrage occurs a lot in the North pole area, but can also regularly be seen on the Scottish heath land fields.

yellow saxifrage

 Copyright © 2007 Martine Maryns. All rights reserved.