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bsbiscotland.bsky.social
BSBI Scotland
@bsbiscotland.bsky.social
860 followers 520 following 220 posts
I am Matt Harding, the Scotland Officer at @bsbibotany.bsky.social

Studying, appreciating & conserving wild flowers across Scotland, and supporting the Scottish botanical community.

https://bsbi.org/scotland
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bsbiscotland.bsky.social
It has completely taken off in the Scottish central belt. Ubiquitous in Glasgow and Edinburgh, with the Midlothian VCR describing it as commoner than Poa annua as a pavement plant - perhaps only slightly tongue in cheek!
Distribution map for Polypogon viridis (Water Bent) in central Scotland, showing clusters of post-2020 records centred around the main connurbations of Glasgow and Edinburgh
November 6, 2025 at 9:25 PM
bsbiscotland.bsky.social
Jersey Cudweed is a recent coloniser in Stirlingshire in central Scotland, marking its movement northwards. Found this year at the Kelpies by Falkirk, as well as in nearby Grangemouth
A Jersey Cudweed (Laphangium luteoalbum) plant growing out of a narrow crack in angled concrete slabs on the underside of a motorway bridge at the Kelpies, Falkirk. The plant is small but erect, with grey-green hairy leaves held upright and a beige cluster of small flowers in a rounded head at the top. It shares its crack with a baby willowherb (Epilobium) A photo showing the location of the Jersey Cudweed (Laphangium luteoalbum) plant, in a crack in angled concrete slaps below a motorway bridge - plant circled in red. The Forth & Clyde Canal is seen in the top left of the picture Not a plant. One of the mighty Kelpie sculptures that overlook the east end of the Forth & Clyde Canal, giving first-time drivers on the M9 an almighty shock! The metal sculpture is of a horse's head and neck, 10s of metres high, rising out of a concreted area against a deep blue sky with occasional white clouds, and towering over the people gathered below it's head. A boy with a yellow t-shirt in the foreground is dwarfed by the sculpture.
November 6, 2025 at 7:27 AM
bsbiscotland.bsky.social
The Scottish Botanists' Conference is here!
230 botanists are about to descend on @thebotanics.bsky.social to celebrate Scotland's incredible flora, and all I can think about is whether I've ordered enough biscuits...
@sarahwatts.bsky.social @naturescot.bsky.social
A welcome slide for the Scottish Botanists' Conference 2025 at RBGE - Whorled Solomon's-seal (Polygonum verticillatum) as the background, with its elegant drooping pale green inflorescence standing out from a haze of yellow-greens. Photo by Gus Routledge
October 31, 2025 at 10:10 PM
bsbiscotland.bsky.social
An unusual one for #wildflowerhour this week - Ribwort Plantain with a new basal rosette developing from within the seedhead! Ok not a flower, but it’s all reproduction isn’t it?! 😁
A new rosette of green leaves growing out of the brown seedhead of Ribwort Plantain, held on a long green stalk above a background of green grass
October 12, 2025 at 8:04 PM
bsbiscotland.bsky.social
Book your #ScotBotanistsConf place now! Its going to be a fantastic day @thebotanics.bsky.social, with brilliant talks on restoring montane woodland, Tufted Saxifrage, urban flora and much much more!
@sarahwatts.bsky.social @plantlifeuk.bsky.social @botsocscot.bsky.social @naturescot.bsky.social
A small, tight clump of Tufted Saxifrage rosettes just catching the morning sunlight on a steep rock wall, high in the Grey Corries. There are three flowerheads, with the last tiny white petals hanging on as they go to seed. Behind, a pattern of brown-green bryophytes and ledges form a mosaic in the vertiginous, pale grey quartzite, with the rock spires reaching towards a bright blue sky in the far corner of the photo.
October 3, 2025 at 1:17 PM
bsbiscotland.bsky.social
Hi Joanie, I think so yes. Ground-elder leaves are usually less divided, only the basal pair of leaflets are divided again (i.e. 2 pinnate), whereas in your photo at least the bottom 3 pairs of leaflets are 2-pinnate. Ground-elder leaf pic here for comparison
Ground-elder (Aegopodium podagraria) leaf, showing single terminal leaflet, undivided pair of leaflets behind, and only the bottom pair of leaflets divided again (asymmetrically, with two smaller leaflets pointing backwards)
September 28, 2025 at 8:23 PM
bsbiscotland.bsky.social
This Perennial Sowthistle (Sonchus arvensis) was flowering this week for #wildflowerhour, but far more exciting were the weird purplish bumps on its leaves. These are the galls of a tiny midge species called Cystiphora sonchi - according to NBN just the 5th time it has been recorded in Scotland 🥰
Yellow flowerhead of Perennial Sowthistle (Sonchus arvensis) on a long stem above a sward of grass by a wire mesh stock fence. The leaves look odd, with dark spots visible in the grass The underside of the Perennial Sowthistle leaf, covered in round purple spots with a paler dot in the centre - the larvae of a gall midge called Cystiphora sonchi The upperside of the same Perennial Sowthistle leaf, showing the spots as raised and darker purple. Inside each is the larvae of a gall midge called Cystiphora sonchi
September 28, 2025 at 8:06 PM
bsbiscotland.bsky.social
What wonderful news, and what a wonderful plant! Holly Fern is the best fern 😍
Holy Fern - a rosette of serrated, spikey fern fronds, green with a yellowish midrib, growing high in the Grey Corries in Scotland Baby Holly Fern croziers starting to unfurl, like little bright green nautilus against a greying backdrop of dry moss. Grey Corries in Scotland
September 26, 2025 at 1:17 PM
bsbiscotland.bsky.social
Amazing display of Blue Heath (Phyllodoce caerulea) today on the Sow of Atholl, East Perthshire!
This nationally rare plant is an irregular flowerer, so to encounter it in all its glory is truly special!
#wildflowerhour @bsbibotany.bsky.social @plantlifeuk.bsky.social
July 13, 2025 at 7:46 PM
bsbiscotland.bsky.social
The delicate and beautiful Small-white Orchid, at its only known site in West Perthshire.
Sadly threatened and in decline across much of its range.
A few days late for #wildflowerhour, but well worth a share!

plantatlas2020.org/atlas/2cd4p9...
Two flowering spikes of Small-white Orchid (Pseudorchis albida), approximately 15cm tall, cylindrical inflorescences of small, creamy white flowers, and bright, pale lime-green stems and lanceolate leaves. The left spike points straight up, the right spike leans rightward then bends upwards to correct A single flowering spike of Small-white Orchid, pointing upwards with delicate, tubular-appearing white flowers arrayed right around, each drooping slightly Another single flowering spike of Small-white Orchid, pointing vertically, set in a flower-rich upland meadow with rolling hills and clouds in the background and a single yellow Tormentil (Potentilla erecta) flower in the foreground
June 5, 2025 at 6:48 AM
bsbiscotland.bsky.social
Been away from plants for a few weeks, but am happy to report that Whale Sharks are utterly awesome and awe inspiring, not to mention rather large!

Back in Scotland now, recording pavement plants at Perth railway station whilst waiting for a train… #sharks #botany #notaplant
A 10m long whale shark rising slowly up from the deep, light dappling its magnificent, spotted head. A remora fish is attached to the tip of its left pectoral fin, and the dorsal fin has its tip damaged, most likely due to a boating accident. Photo in black and white.
May 28, 2025 at 8:31 AM
bsbiscotland.bsky.social
Do you recognise a few flowers, but find identifying unfamiliar ones a bit overwhelming? This Identifying Wild Flower Families workshop is for you!
Sat 7th June, in Perth, with a free field meeting on the 8th to join as well. Book now to avoid disappointment!
www.tickettailor.com/events/botan...
A poster advertising a wild flower families identification workshop on Sat 7th June 2025 in Perth. Book your place at https://www.tickettailor.com/events/botanicalsocietyofbritainireland/1581546
May 2, 2025 at 11:11 AM
bsbiscotland.bsky.social
Two key messages from #SNSC2025: we have a big problem, but we can do something about it.
@scottishgov.bsky.social CSA Mat Williams laying out reality - 47% native plants in decline, 1 in 9 Scottish species threatened with extinction, & @sarahwatts.bsky.social sharing hope for mountain woodlands
Prof Mat Williams, Chief Scientific Advisor for Environment, Natural Resources and Agriculture to Scottish Government, laying out some harsh truths about the state of nature in Scotland right now: 15% average decrease in Scottish wildlife since 1994; 47% of our flowering plants have decreased in distribution since 1970; 11% (1 in 9) of Scottish species are threatened with extinction; 49% decline in Scotland's seabirds between 1986 and 2019. Find out more about Mat and his role here: https://www.gov.scot/about/how-government-is-run/directorates/environment-and-forestry/chief-scientific-adviser-environment-nat-resources-agriculture/ Sarah Watts, PhD student at University of Stirling, Conservation Manager at Corrour Estate, BSBI Committee for Scotland member and all round force of (and for) nature, speaking about the fantastic work she is doing to understand and restore Scotland's highly threatened arctic-alpine mountain woodland. A fantastic demonstration of research and conservation action coming together for the betterment of Scotland's wildlife and habitats and opening the door for nature-based solutions to environmental problems such as flooding and erosion
March 20, 2025 at 10:46 AM
bsbiscotland.bsky.social
Inspiring to meet so many engaged & dedicated student researchers at #SNSC2025 this week, & introduce them to #PlantAtlas2020 - a free online resource covering 3.5K species, their distribution, trends, conservation status & photos! plantatlas2020.org
@scotnsconf.bsky.social @naturescot.bsky.social
Graph showing the long-term trends in Scotland of native plant species, ancient introductions (archaeophytes) and modern introductions (neophytes). It doesn't make good viewing - 48% of native species have declined in Scotland since the 1950s, 66% of ancient introductions (plants like poppies, corn marigold, cornflower etc.) have declined, and 56% of recent non-native introductions are on the increase The brilliant blue flowers of Oysterplant, in clusters around the edge of a prostrate mat of grey-green, fleshy, rounded leaves more than a metre wide, growing on a shingle beach. This species grows around the coast of Scotland, but its range is shifting north as a result of the impacts of climate change e.g. increasing winter storm events, higher winter temperatures, and other threats. Find out more at https://plantatlas2020.org/atlas/2cd4p9h.906 The Plant Atlas 2020 page for Oysterplant, showing the long-term change map, where 10km squares with population gains over the last 70 years are shown in upwards pointing red arrows, 10km squares with no change are shown as pink squares, and losses are shown as inverted blue triangle. You can see that all the English populations have been lost over this time, as the species range has shifted northwards. Scotland is at the southern edge of Oysterplant's European range, so our populations are particularly vulnerable to the impacts of climate-related environmental change The short-term (post-1987) trend graphs for Oysterplant in Scotland, showing a strong decline in its 10km distribution. All Plant Atlas maps and graphics are available to researchers to download for free - please use them! All we ask is an acknowledgement for BSBI ;)
March 20, 2025 at 10:27 AM
bsbiscotland.bsky.social
An update on my local Toothwort population!
Flowers opening and pinking up, although the stems haven't got going properly yet so resemblance to a jawbone with teeth on one side is still minimal. #wildflowerhour
Find out more about this weird and wonderful plant: plantatlas2020.org/atlas/2cd4p9...
Two young Toothwort shoots pushing through the leaf litter, a clustered mass of pale pink and off-white flowers opening up and some stamens visible. Bright green young Ramsons/Wild Garlic shoots are also pushing through the leaf litter layer, which is a varied mixture of browns and greys
March 12, 2025 at 11:00 AM
bsbiscotland.bsky.social
Some #yellowflowers for #wildflowerhour, not particularly wild in this case!
Daffodil cultivar ID can be a real challenge, lots of similar ones out there. This is Narcissus ‘Dutch Master’.
Native Daffs have paler twisted tepals & darker yellow trumpet - don’t get caught out by the cultivars!
Two bright yellow Daffodil flowers, with slightly deeper yellow central trumpets. Behind are numerous other planted daffodils in an amenity meadow, although none are in flower yet, with a sparse, blurred hedge at the distant boundary Looking into the Daffodil trumpet, the six tepals forming a star shape around the frilly ring of the trumpet lip. A hand holds the flower up to the camera, in front of a swathe of planted, unopened Daffodils The daffodil flower now held upright by a hand, with its trumpet pointing to the sky, the photo taken from the side angle. A second flower to its right is partially cropped by the photo edge, and a third flower around a metre behind is facing away from the camera. The daffodil field runs back to a boundary hedge just visible at the back of the photograph
March 9, 2025 at 8:13 PM
bsbiscotland.bsky.social
Bilberry (Vaccinium myrtillus) flowering above Aberfoyle, West Perthshire yesterday, for #wildflowerhour
Incredibly early for this species, BSBI records suggest there are just two earlier flowering records. It hasn’t even got proper leaves yet!! 🤯
@bsbibotany.bsky.social
Green, bare branches of the dwarf shrub Bilberry in the left of centre of the photo, with a branch extending rightward with two round, creamy-green-pink flowers hanging down from the end. The leaf buds are starting to burst open at the tips of the branches. Behind is a blurred background consisting of more Bilberry and other dwarf shrubs, with tree trunks further back. The photo was taken after sunset, so the light has a washed out, ethereal quality
March 9, 2025 at 7:40 PM
bsbiscotland.bsky.social
As demonstrated below!
A group of vivid pink campion flowers, clustered on dark reddish stalks about 45cm tall, arising from a dense clump of bright green, lanceolate leaves. Growing amidst thin grasses on a ledge on a sloping rock face, the top of which sits about three quarters of the way up the image, with blue sky and one patch of white cloud above
March 5, 2025 at 10:58 PM
bsbiscotland.bsky.social
Ethereal Toothwort poking through the leaf litter on the banks of the Allan Water this week (baby-Toothwort I guess!)
It lacks chlorophyll and parasitizes Hazel, Ash, Wych Elm etc.
Sends up short flower-bearing shoots (2nd pic), but also produces underground flowers that can self-fertilise! 🤯
Tiny white Toothwort shoot just breaking through the ground surface and pushing through the leaf litter, about an inch high and consisting of a stack of overlapping, immature flowers. Surrounded by grey and brown leaf litter, black soil and occasional green leaves - baby Wild Garlic, Bluebell and an Ivy leaf A cluster of mature Toothwort shoots, off-white with 10s of pink-lipped flowers stacked along one side of each shoot. Scattered green leaves, moss, dead sticks, stones and leaf litter make up the rest of this woodland floor scene, along with a black corvid feather lying upside down on top of some Toothwort shoots at the front of the photo
March 2, 2025 at 8:43 PM
bsbiscotland.bsky.social
Anyone know what’s responsible for this purple blotching on this Cowberry (Vaccinium vitis-idaea)? My 1st thought was a fungus, but now I’m wondering if it might be a leaf miner moth like Fomoria weaveri? Help please!
#moths #leafminers #microfungi
Glossy green leaves of Cowberry, with dark purple-brown blotches on many of them. Surrounded by other dwarf shrubs, with brownish Heather, red-stemmed Crowberry with whorls of green, needle-like leaves, and occasional bare green stems of Bilberry The underside of a Cowberry leaf, pale green and obovate in shape, with purple-grown blotches, picked and sat on the palm of a man’s hand
March 2, 2025 at 7:53 PM
bsbiscotland.bsky.social
Opposite-leaved Golden Saxifrage for #wildflowerhour. It’s subtle charms were first described in 1753 by Carl Linnaeus, the ‘father of modern taxonomy’, and it gently brightens damp, shaded areas of woodland ground flora in spring 🌱🥰
Opposite-leaved Golden Saxifrage, flattened green terminal leaf whorls supporting little yellow flower cups, with the yellow stamens visible inside the open cup. Surrounded by feathery green mosses and brown leaf litter A close up of the same patch of Opposite-leaved Golden Saxifrage, flattened green terminal leaf whorls supporting little yellow flower cups, with the yellow stamens visible inside the open cup. Surrounded by feathery green mosses and scattered brown leaf litter Looking down on a low carpet of Opposite-leaved Golden Saxifrage, flattened green terminal leaf whorls supporting little yellow flower cups. Scattered brown twigs and green grass leaves straggle through the mat of green leaves
March 2, 2025 at 5:45 PM
bsbiscotland.bsky.social
Find out what overlooked botanical gem I came across at the Falls of Leny this week! 😁
#botany #fabferns
February 28, 2025 at 5:09 PM
bsbiscotland.bsky.social
Have you ever been in an Herbarium?
I wandered into the RBGE Herbarium @thebotanics.bsky.social, opened a random folder, and discovered this Variable Plantain specimen found nr Galashiels in 1913 by Ida Hayward - native to Australia, a 1st for Britain, undetected til now.
What awaits your visit?!
A sepia-brown herbarium sheet, with two brownish Variable Plantain (Plantago varia) specimens laid out and taped to it. The larger specimen occupies most of the sheet, its rosette of lanceolate leaves with protruding, spaced teeth and long stalks arranged in an octopus-arm like 270 degree display. Five flowering heads are amongst them, consisting of long, thin cylindrical flower clusters on long stalks arising from the centre of the leaf rosette. A small, immature specimen is displayed above the main one. A white RBGE barcode sticker is displayed in the bottom right, alongside various entries in elegant joined up script made by Ida Hayward, the collector, who made this collection on 24th October 1913 on an island in the Gala, the river running past Galashiels in the Scottish Borders
February 28, 2025 at 3:32 PM
bsbiscotland.bsky.social
Just when I thought I was out, winter pulls me back in!
#winter #snowdrops #thegodfather
Two Snowdrop (Galanthus nivalis) flowers, white with inverted green ‘u’-shaped markings on the inner tepals, covered in melting frost and arising from a rosette of frost-covered, strap-like leaves surrounded by frosted leaf litter, moss (Springy Turf-moss, Rhytidiadelphus squarrosus) and scattered grass leaves
February 27, 2025 at 10:04 AM
bsbiscotland.bsky.social
Have you seen this amazing newsletter produced by the West Central Scotland Botany Network?
Packed with ID & recording tips, & showcasing great people and places. Local #botany at its best!
Their 2025 field meetings programme is coming soon... @bsbibotany.bsky.social
bsbi.org/west-central...
The front cover of an electronic newsletter, titled 'Trifoliate Spring 2025' and designed with three shades of green rectangles, with a photograph of a brown and green clump of Hard-fern (Blechnum spicant) with icicles dangling off the ends of the fronds. The contents summary says 'Field Reports, ID: Aquatic Plants, Common Juniper, Ferns on Walls', and the tagline at the bottom of the cover says 'Networking field botanists across Dunbartonshire, Lanarkshire and Renfrewshire' The front cover of an electronic newsletter, titled 'Trifoliate Autumn 2024' and designed with three shades of green rectangles, with a photograph of bright red Round-leaved Sundew (Drosera rotundifolia) rosettes growing in a green and brown carpet of Sphagnum mosses and other bryophytes, viewed from above. The contents summary says 'Field Reports, South Lanarkshire Reserves, Plant Galls: Part 2', and the tagline at the bottom of the cover says 'Networking field botanists across Dunbartonshire, Lanarkshire and Renfrewshire' The front cover of an electronic newsletter, titled 'Trifoliate Summer 2024' and designed with three shades of green rectangles, with a photograph of Alpine Club-moss (Diphasiastrum alpinum), forming clusters of upturned green fingers with paler tips, growing out of a short sward of brown-green moss and sparse, buff-brown grass stalks. The contents summary says 'Network News, Field Reports, Havoc Meadows, Plant Galls', and the tagline at the bottom of the cover says 'Networking field botanists across Dunbartonshire, Lanarkshire and Renfrewshire'.
February 26, 2025 at 9:50 PM