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Botany Group 27th May 2025
by Merryn Dineley - 17:00 on 04 June 2025
Nineteen of us met in Birsay to walk between the sea and the dunes across the large field below the Birsay Bay Tearoom. We also had a squint over the bridge into the burn in the village. With the blast of the sea and a good deal of grazing, the range of plants was maybe more limited than we have seen elsewhere. However we did find a few treasures and one mystery plant (subsequently demystified and identified as Lady’s Bedstraw, Galium Varum)). Here's the list:
Angelica Angelica sylvestris
Bird's-foot-trefoil Lotus corniculatus
Bristly Swan-neck Moss (Ian identified - Campylopus atrovirens)
Bur Reed Sparganium sp.
Butterbur Petasites Hybridus
Common Reed Phragmites australis
Cow Parsley Anthriscus sylvestris
Buttercup: Ranunculus creeping repens, meadow acris
Curly Dock Rumex crispus
Dandelion Taraxacum officinale
Field Horsetail Equisetum arvense
Hog Weed Heracleum sphondylium
Lady's Bedstraw Galium verum (An unusual-looking specimen of this plant was the mystery!)
Marsh Marigold Caltha palustris
Mouse Ear Cerastium fontanum
Nettle Urtica dioica
Plantain: Plantago broad-leaved major, buck's-horn coronopus, ribwort lanceolata and one lovely-
looking variegated specimen
Procumbent Pearlwort Sagina procumbens
Ragwort Senecio jacobaea
Red Campion Silene dioica
Sand Sedge Carex arenaria
Scurvy Grass Cochlearia officinalis
Sea Mayweed Tripleurospermum maritimum or Scentless Mayweed T. inodorum?
Sea Sandwort Honckenya peploides
Silverweed Potentilla anserina
Sow Thistle Sonchus arvensis
Sticky Willie Galium aparine
Thistle: Cirsium creeping arvense, marsh palustre, spear vulgare
Viviparous Fescue Festuca vivipara
White Clover Trifolium repens
Yarrow Achillea millefolium
Yellow Iris Iris pseudacorus
Yellow Rattle Rhinanthus minor
Lady's bedstraw Variegated plantain
Sea sandwort
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