Flowers of Lanarkshire

Learning and recording the wild plants of Lanarkshire

This website features pictures of wild plants taken in the vice-county of Lanarkshire. The pictures are intended to show the wide range of plants and to assist identification by highlighting some key features.

  • To find a plant, go to the index at the bottom of this page. The index uses scientific names (made up of a genus and a specific name) so Daisy is Bellis perennis. Look for the name of the genus, in this example in ‘B’. As you hover over a letter, a list will appear listing all the pages available. Click on genus name and the page will open.

    If you do not know the scientific name, then choose Common Names or Grasses, Rushes, and Sedges at the right-hand end of the index.

    When you select a page, the index moves to the top. Each page shows most of the species in the genus which are known to occur in Lanarkshire. Some of the pages have several similar genera grouped together.

    If there is more than one species on a page, the pictures are preceded by a label with the species name. Imagine the pictures as threaded on a ribbon, separated by the labels, and arranged on the page from left to right, row by row. The way this is displayed will change depending on your screen layout.

    On the photo pages, click the “i” icon to display further information. Photos can be scrolled left and right, using arrows embedded within the edge of the picture.

    You can right-click and open in the picture in a new tab. On a laptop you may also be able to enlarge the picture using a mouse pad, stretching it out between two fingers.

    Once you are finished, click on the four-squares icon, bottom right and you will return to the overview for that page.

    Click Home to return to this page.

  • The vice-county of Lanarkshire (VC77) is large, encompassing the current political entities of South Lanarkshire, North Lanarkshire, a large portion of the City of Glasgow and part of East Dunbartonshire. In total, this area involves roughly 2,500 sq. km.

    The landscape has remote hills and high moorland, upland and lowland farm country, areas of former mining development (whose spoil-heaps, or ‘bings’ as they are locally called, provide much botanical interest), and the extensive urban sprawl of Greater Glasgow.

    Essentially it is all about the river Clyde, formed from streams in the Lowther Hills, meandering across farmland from Biggar to Carstairs, plunging over the spectacular Falls of Clyde near Lanark, developing grandeur along the picturesque Clyde Valley, and becoming one of Scotland’s most celebrated and historic rivers through the centre of Glasgow.  Along this major watercourse, many tributaries emerge from steep-sided valleys and gorges, which offer both challenges and rewards to the botanist.

    There is an extended team of amateur field botanists who are constantly recording what plants grow where, right across our area - noticing change and adding records for map squares where this work has never been done before.

  • The photos are intended to showcase the plants and assist in their identification: therefore we have kept descriptive text very brief. For maximum benefit and enjoyment of this site, please read it in conjunction with your preferred field guide.

    Using the photographs

    The description of each photo gives: species name, map-square reference, date, and the photographer’s initials. All photos were taken within Lanarkshire.

    All photos on this site are copyright.  None of the photos may be used without specific permission. If you are interested in using photos from the site ask permission first. We will forward the request to the photographer.

    Linking

    You are welcome to link directly to any page on this site, but not directly to individual photos.  In other words, your link url should end in .htm and not .jpg.  If in doubt please ask.

    The Photographers

    We are very grateful to these photographers who have allowed us to use their photos.

    AM - Alison McArthur

    CJ - Chris Jeffree

    DG - Davina Gray

    DS - Dean Stables

    EW - Emilie Wadsworth

    FH - Frazer Henderson

    FM - Fiona Macfarlane

    GL - Grace Lyon

    HI - Hugh Ilgunas

    HP - Helen Proctor

    JB - Jim Blackwood

    JH  - John Hawell

    JRW - Jenn Wiggins

    JW - Jill Williams

    LD - Liza Downie

    LM – Liz McTeague

    LS -  Lisa Swift

    MH - Matt Harding

    MJP - Michael Pink

    MM - Malcolm Macneill

    MP - Michael Philip

    PT - Pat Thomson

    PW - Peter Wiggins

    SJ - Sue Jury

    WJ - William Johnston

  • Please send us your photographs of any plants that you see in the vice-county of Lanarkshire, we want them!

    Let us know the name of the plant, the monad (6 figure reference) and the date of the photograph. If you don’t know the map reference, just specify as accurately as you can where it was taken.

    By sending in the picture, we will assume that you are happy for us to use them on this site.

    Send them to Peter Wiggins, his email address is on the vc77 page of the BSBI website.

The Team and how to contact us

The website is supervised by Michael Philip, VC77 Joint Recorder for the BSBI. It is maintained by Peter Wiggins, the other Joint Recorder who is responsible for the errors and omissions. However there would be so many more were it not for the diligent editing and proof reading of Janey Floyd. Click here to get in touch.