Setting Foot On the Shores of Connemara (2012)
“I will describe a sort of chain dance of plants and humans, interlinked by their roles in the odd history of discovery of the rare species of heather found here. This then is a cultural ecology, with comic interludes.
For the amateur like myself the identification of these rarities is tricky. Here’s the trick. Hold the specimen in one hand and insert the following key: 1 Much the same as any other heather Same but bigger 2 Erica erigena (Mediterranean Heath) 2 Spelling mistake in Latin nam...e Daboecia cantabrica (St Dabeoc’s Heath) Vericaceous 3 3 Not to hand Just like any old heather E. ciliaris (Dorset Heath) E. mackaiana (Mackay’s Heath) The reason you don’t have E. ciliaris in your hand is because it’s only found in one spot, which is a state secret, and it’s illegal to pick it. In general these Ericas are best told apart by their extreme similarity to the common sort, E. tetralix.
I cannot deal with their ecology, their curious Atlantic distribution, the puzzles of whether or not they show up in the pollen record since the Ice Age, or any of the sensible questions that make them endlessly fascinating to botanists.MoreLess
For the amateur like myself the identification of these rarities is tricky. Here’s the trick. Hold the specimen in one hand and insert the following key: 1 Much the same as any other heather Same but bigger 2 Erica erigena (Mediterranean Heath) 2 Spelling mistake in Latin nam...e Daboecia cantabrica (St Dabeoc’s Heath) Vericaceous 3 3 Not to hand Just like any old heather E. ciliaris (Dorset Heath) E. mackaiana (Mackay’s Heath) The reason you don’t have E. ciliaris in your hand is because it’s only found in one spot, which is a state secret, and it’s illegal to pick it. In general these Ericas are best told apart by their extreme similarity to the common sort, E. tetralix.
I cannot deal with their ecology, their curious Atlantic distribution, the puzzles of whether or not they show up in the pollen record since the Ice Age, or any of the sensible questions that make them endlessly fascinating to botanists.MoreLess
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