Tuesday, November 28, 2006

36 native Irish trees / shrubs

There are 36 trees and shrubs thought to be native to Ireland.

  1. Alder
  2. Alder Buckthorn
  3. Arbutus, the Strawberry Tree
  4. Ash
  5. Aspen
  6. Bird Cherry
  7. Bramble
  8. Broom
  9. Burnet rose
  10. Common (or European) Gorse
  11. Crab Apple
  12. Dog Rose
  13. Downy Birch
  14. Elder
  15. Guelder Rose
  16. Hawthorn
  17. Hazel
  18. Holly
  19. Honeysuckle
  20. Ivy
  21. Juniper
  22. Pedunculate Oak
  23. Privet
  24. Purging Buckthorn
  25. Rowan or Mountain Ash
  26. Scots Pine
  27. Sessile Oak
  28. Silver Birch
  29. Sloe, Blackthorn
  30. Spindle
  31. Western (or Mountain) Gorse
  32. Whitebeam spp. S. anglica
    Whitebeam spp. S. devoniensis
    Whitebeam spp. S. hibernica.
    Whitebeam spp. S. latifolia
    Whitebeam spp. S. rupicola
    Whitebeam spp. Sorbus aria
  33. Wild Cherry
  34. Willow spp.
  35. Wych Elm
  36. Yew
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The island of ireland

Once upon a time, and for 15000 years, ice a mile high blanketed Ireland. When the lingering Ice Age finally released and the Irish ice departed it left a landscape scoured. Across land bridges linking Ireland, Britain and mainland Europe plants and animals arrived to colonise the new lowlands, mountains and valleys. The world’s ice continued to melt, the sea levels to rise, and some 8000 years ago Ireland became the island we now know, accounting for just 0.01% of the world's total land area and the most westerly point of Europe.

Though at Alaskan latitudes, the country's climate is tempered, due partly to the neighbouring waters of the Gulf Stream and partly the prevailing southwesterlies that veering and backing make landfall on our sodden coast. These offerings from the Atlantic mean it is never too hot, never too cold. But without doubt it is wet. Rain lingers year round, never far away, though is most frequent in winter, the western counties and, inevitably, on the day of your parade.