A floristic survey of Fair Isle

Figures & data

Figure 1 Map of Fair Isle and its location within Shetland.

Table 1 Breakdown of most well represented plant families on Fair Isle.

Ranking	Family	No of genera	No of species	% of all family
1	Asteraceae	21	37	12
2	Poaceae	25	37	12
3	Cyperaceae	6	20	6
4	Brassicaceae	13	18	6
5	Caryophyllaceae	7	17	5
	Total	72	129	41%

Table 2 Additions to Fair Isle flora post- Scott & Palmer (1987).

Species	Recorded	Comments
Aponogeton distachyos	2002–2010	Planted illicitly by a non-resident. Permission would be required from Scottish Natural Heritage (as it was in a Special Area of Conservation) and the landowner, The National Trust for Scotland – and would not be given due to its alien status
Ballota nigra	2015 onwards	Casual garden weed
Brassica juncea	1999	Accidental introduction with bird seed mix
Brassica nigra	1999	Accidental introduction with bird seed mix
Brassica rapa oleifolia	2010	Accidental introduction with bird seed mix
Briza maxima	2016	Casual garden weed
Bromus hordaceus	1998, 2007	Accidental introduction with bird seed mix
Bupleurum subovatum	1999	Accidental introduction with bird seed mix
Cardamine flexuosa	2016	Casual garden weed
Carex hostiana	1999 onwards
Carex leporina	2002–2007
Centaurea nigra	2010 onwards	Introduced in an RSPB wild flower seed packet
Chenopodium murale	2010	Accidental introduction with bird seed mix
Chenopodium quinoa	2013	As experimental cover crop for birds
Chrysanthemum coronarium	1996
Dactylorhiza purpurella	1973 onwards	Pre-1973 records Excluded by botanical referees (Scott & Palmer) as not supported by voucher material
Diplotaxis tenuifolia	2013 onwards	Casual garden weed
Epilobium ciliatum	1999, 2004–07, 2016	Casual garden weed
Epilobium obscurum	1999	Claimed historically
Eriophorum vaginatum	1973 onwards	Claimed historically
Eruca vesicaria sativa	2010	Accidental introduction with bird seed mix
Erysimum cheiranthoides	1990	Casual garden weed
Euphorbia peplus	2010	Introduced in an RSPB wild flower seed packet
Fallopia convolvulus	2006, 2012	Casual garden weed
Festuca rubra var.	2013 onwards	Introduced in an RSPB wild flower seed packet
Fumaria species	1999	Casual garden weed
Geranium dissectum	1999	Casual garden weed
Geranium pratense	2015 onwards	Garden escape
Helianthus annuus	1999, 2007, 2010	Accidental introduction with bird seed mix
Hordeum distichon	1998, 2000	Accidental introduction with bird seed mix
Juncus effusus	c.2002 onwards
Matricaria recutita	1999	Accidental introduction with bird seed mix
Melilotus indicus	2006	Casual garden weed
Mertensia maritima	1992–95, 1998 onwards
Papaver rhoeas	2009	Intentional introduction from seed
Persicaria lapathifolia	1999, 2007	Accidental introduction with bird seed mix
Phleum bertolonii	1998	Accidental introduction with bird seed mix
Polygonum bistorta	2013 onwards	Garden escape, f. ‘superbum’
Primula vulgaris	2013–15	Escaped garden variety
Silene latifolia	2004
Sisymbrium officinale	2001	Casual garden weed
Stachys x ambigua	c.2000 onwards	Planted
Symphytum x uplandicum	c.1990 onwards	Introduced as bird cover
Thlaspi arvense	1999	Accidental introduction with bird seed mix
Triticum aestivum	1998, 2016	Accidental introduction with bird seed mix
Veronica filiformis	1999	Casual garden weed
Zostera marina	1982	Detached material on shore

Those in bold were not reported for Shetland in Scott & Palmer (1987) and are thus cited for the first time in the archipelago. Likely source of origin is reported in the final column.

Figure 2 Threatened species present on Fair Isle as classified by the Vascular Plant Red List (Cheffings et al., 2005): (A) Coeloglossum viride (VU), (B) Gentianella campestris (VU), (C) Hymenophyllum wilsonii (NT), (D) Mertensia maritima (NT), (E) Radiola linoides (NT).

Table 3 Species diversity by monad for Fair Isle.

No	Monad (HZ)	Species per monad	Native status			Red Data List		BSBI status
			N	AR	AN	NT	VU	NS
1	1969	78	75	2	1	1	1	6
2	2069	117	111	4	2	1		4
3	2169	47	47					3
4	1970	92	90	1	1	1		2
5	2070	165	145	12	8	1	2	1
6	2170	86	86					2
7	2270	9	9					1
8	1971	29	29					1
9	2071	156	141	5	10	1	2	2
10	2171	152	144	2	6	2	1	4
11	2271	55	54	1		1		3
12	2072	103	103			1	1	3
13	2172	108	107		1	1		3
14	2272	130	116	4	10	1	1	4
15	2073	84	84			2		1
16	2173	114	114			1	1	2
17	2273	99	99			2		3
18	2074	21	21					1
19	2274	49	48		1		1	1

All monads belong to national grid square HZ. For native status N: native, AR: archaeophytes, AN: neophyte. For Vascular Plant Red Data List for Great Britain NT: near threatened, VU: vulnerable. For Botanical Society of Britain & Ireland (BSBI) status NS: nationally scarce.

Figure 3 Map of vegetation of Fair Isle according to the results of the Phase 1 Habitat Survey.

Table 4 Main habitat categories as per Phase 1 Habitat Survey.

Habitat	Percentage
Heathland	31%
Coastland	28%
Grassland	19%
Miscellaneous	10%
Mire, flush and spring	4%
Arable	3%
Marsh	3%
Tall herb and fern	1%
Rock exposure (inland cliff) and waste	1%
Open water	<1%
Swamp and marginal	<1%
Woodland	<1%
Total	100%

Scott, W. & Palmer, R. 1987. The flowering plants and ferns of the Shetland Islands. Lerwick: The Shetland Times.

 Google Scholar

Cheffings, C. M., Farrell, L., Dines, T. D., Jones, R. A., Leach, S. J., McKean, D. R., Pearman, D. A., Preston, C. D., Rumsey, F. J., Taylor, I. (eds). 2005. The vascular plant red data list for Great Britain. Species Status 7: 1–116. Peterborough: Joint Nature Conservation Committee.

 Google Scholar