World first for Beinn Eighe
A liverwort known as the ‘northern prongwort’ has been discovered to be unique to Beinn Eighe National Nature Reserve and captured headlines across the scientific and botanical world. “This population of northern prongwort is of global importance as this is the only location it’s known on Earth,” explained David Bell, a researcher with the Royal Botanic Garden in Edinburgh. “Its closest relatives are in Asia and further research is needed to determine whether the northern prongwort has its origins in the Himalayas. “We’re fortunate that this population is so well protected on the reserve because the community as a whole is extremely sensitive to burning. We now think that the plant’s conservation status needs to be reviewed due to its rarity.” SNH’s specialist on mosses and liverworts, Dr David Genney, confirmed that Scotland has an amazing wealth of mosses and liverworts, with some of them found nowhere else in the world. “Beinn Eighe in Wester Ross is the only location on Earth for Herbertus borealis – the plant’s botanical name – where luckily it grows in profusion on the mountain side,” he added. “It’s a special example of the Scottish liverwort heath, a miniature forest of liverworts that grows among the heather of hills in the west Highlands.”
Beinn Eighe has been a National Nature Reserve since 1951 and was also in the news when SNH discovered that wooden posts on fences, erected to protect young trees on Britain’s oldest NNR, were found to harbour rare lichen species. Under a five-year plan for the site, it was expected that deer fences would eventually become unnecessary to protect woodland. SNH said the fence posts would now be left, after the wire was taken down, to act as ‘lichen reservoirs’, which would encourage the spread of fragile species.
www.snh.gov.uk
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NEWS
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