The Irish Botany News Blog

Irish Plant News
New Curator at the National Botanic Gardens

New Curator at the National Botanic Gardens

The National Botanic Gardens are delighted to welcome Dr. Darach Lupton as the new Curator of the Gardens. Darach was a student at the Gardens from 1995 – 1998; he spent 12 months at the RHS Gardens at Wisley during his placement year in 1996. Finishing at Glasnevin...

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Memories of sun, sea and Cottonweed – one of our rarest iconic Irish coastal plant

Memories of sun, sea and Cottonweed – one of our rarest iconic Irish coastal plant

During the super-hot summer of 2018 we enjoyed Mediterranean weather. Many of us went to the sea to enjoy the heat and unusual sunshine. At the National Botanic Gardens, we undertook an autumnal expedition to see how one of our rarest Irish coastal plants – the Cottonweed – had fared. We discovered that, shockingly, just 12 individuals are left in the one remaining Irish site in Co. Wexford. . .

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Flora of County Longford

Flora of County Longford

  In 1986 John (Seán) Thomas Howard submitted his MSc Thesis on the The Flora of County Longford. A copy of the manuscript was given to Maura Scannel and has been kept at the National Herbarium ever since. We are very grateful to Seán Howard for giving us...

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Flora of County Limerick published

Flora of County Limerick published

The publication of Sylvia Reynold's Flora of County Limerick is the third flora the Botanic Gardens has published, Sylvia's previous catalogue of the Alien plants of Ireland is also available from the Botanic Gardens bookshop.  

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Rare Stinkhorn appears in Dublin Garden

Rare Stinkhorn appears in Dublin Garden

The Basket Stinkhorn (Clathrus ruber), has been found in a city garden in Sutton. A relative of the more widely known stinkhorn, the spores of this mushroom are dispersed by flies attracted to the smell of rotting carrion it releases. This is an interesting discovery,...

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EBESCONet

EBESCONet

The European Bryophyte Ex situ Conservation Network is a group of people working on ex situ conservation of Bryophytes. The aim being to develop techniques, disseminate information, identify training requirements and foster collaborations. The webpage has numerous...

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Mosses and Liverwort recording in Ireland

Mosses and Liverwort recording in Ireland

A new Irish Branch of the British Bryological Society (BBS) has been launched and is being run by the Dublin Naturalist Field Club and Dr. Jo Denyer. Jo has set out an early ambitious task to have all the bryophyes (mosses and liverworts) in Co. Wicklow National Park...

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Back issues of Irish Botanical News on the web

Back issues of Irish Botanical News on the web

Since 1991, Irish members of the BSBI have received Irish Botanical News from Brian Rushton each year. This excellent newsletter brings useful updates from around the country, as well as articles on specific and general aspects of Irish botany. Back issues up to 2008...

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The Irish Grid and Lat/Long conversions

The Irish Grid and Lat/Long conversions

Paul Whelan has recently launched a truly excellent mapping system on his website biology.ie As well as enabling instant conversions between Irish Grid and Latitude/Longitude co-ordinates, the site allows you to pan and zoom in google maps and locate a position on...

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Locating placenames in Ireland

Locating placenames in Ireland

The Placenames Commission (Department of Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs) and Fiontar (DCU) has developed an online database to the Placenames of Ireland. This provides simultaneous translations in English and Irish and provides four-figure grid references to...

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Flora of County Waterford published

Flora of County Waterford published

This is the first flora to be written for county Waterford, and a great tribute to Paul Green's meticulous and thorough fieldwork. Paul Green has spent the past 10 years working on the flora, and it contains detailed introductory chapters outlining the work involved,...

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Bryophyte Synonymy list for Ireland

Bryophyte Synonymy list for Ireland

A synonymy spreadsheet for the bryophytes of Ireland is now available This is similar to the spreadsheet for vascular plants produced some years ago. The spreadsheet will automatically look up the current name for a taxon and provide the authority, common name and...

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Irish Fleabane Inula salicina

Irish Fleabane Inula salicina

A community-based conservation project to consolidate and establish new populations of the highly endangered Irish Fleabane. Lough Derg contains the last site in Ireland for the protected plant species Irish Fleabane. To conserve this species and ensure that part of...

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New mosses for Ireland

New mosses for Ireland

Intensive fieldwork by bryologists David Holyoak and Nick Hodgetts over the past few years has yielded a host of new mosses and liverworts for Ireland. In 2005, David Holyoak described a new species of moss collected at Lough Oughter in Co. Cavan - Ephemerum...

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A new grass for Ireland

A new grass for Ireland

In May 2005, Tony O'Mahony discovered the diminutive sand-dune grass Mibora minima at Cannawee dune system in West Cork, the first record of this species in Ireland. Other coastal plants we have 'yet' to find in Ireland are Ononis reclinata, Rumex rupestris, and...

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Global Partnership for Plant Conservation

Global Partnership for Plant Conservation

  The National Botanic Gardens Glasnevin hosted the 1st international conference of the Global Partnership for Plant Conservation over four days in October 2005. It was the largest international meeting ever held at the National Botanic Gardens and included 120...

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The Wollemi Pine – Wollemia nobilis

The Wollemi Pine – Wollemia nobilis

  Wollemia nobilis was discovered in August 1994 by David Noble, a National Parks and Wildlife Services Officer, in the Wollemi National Park in Sydney's Blue Mountains. Sydney Botanists recognised the plant as belonging to the Monkey Puzzle tree family,...

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Encephalartos woodii goes back on show

Encephalartos woodii goes back on show

Encephalartos woodii, one of our most treasured plants, went back on show today after being behind the scenes for the past 3 years with the restoration of the Palm House. It comes from South Africa, and has now been planted in the east wing of the Curvilinear house,...

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