The Flora of the Aran Islands

The floristic results are presented of a number of expeditions to the Aran Islands made during the years 1969-1976 by the author and by Professor Moore, Mr. White and other members of the Botany Department of University College, Dublin, and a few other helpers. They are critically compared with the results obtained by nineteenth-century explorers of the islands; the numerous discrepancies are analysed and to some extent explained. The flora of today amounts to 437 species (excluding apomicts), of which 78 represent new and hitherto unpublished records. Of the nineteenth-century records 93 could not be confirmed. Of these 36 are believed to have become extinct since 1895 (all but four being aliens which never became permanently naturalized), 12 may well have been overlooked in the recent visits, and 45 are believed to have been recorded in error. The problem presented by records of a large number of calcifuge species on this exclusively calcareous terrain is discussed in detail.