Action Plans for Flowering Plants

There are about 950 flowering plants growing wild in NI.
Many of these have been impacted by changes in agriculture practice, land reclamation and agriculture intensification.
The change of management from hay to silage has caused the decline of herb rich hay meadows.
So not just birds and our rarer mammals need protection, we have flowering plants listed as NI Priority Species, some of which have published Species Action Plans.
  

Fen Violet, is it extinct in Northern Ireland?

The fen violet is one of the rarest and most endangered species in these islands. In Ireland fen violet occupies the habitat of 'vanishing lakes' or turloughs. In NI, fen violet is confined to rocky limestone lake shores of Upper Lough Erne and to turloughs or vanishing lakes around Fardrum, but it has not been seen since 1992. Reintroduction at a number of former sites is the main target of the Fen Violet (.PDF 82 KB) species action plan

The Irish Lady's-tresses (.PDF 84 Kb) has an All-Ireland Species Action Plan. In the past, sites have been damaged or destroyed by drainage, burying under dredged waste or agricultural improvement.

This attractive wild orchid is distributed right across North America. Some botanists believe this plant to have arrived only recently from North America, perhaps carried as seed on the feet of migrating birds.

Search around the shores of Lough Neagh and Lough Beg in late July and August, for Irish Lady's-tresses when it is in flower.

Read other NI Species Action Plans for flowering plants:

• Small Cow-wheat (.PDF 49Kb)
• River Water Crowfoot (.PDF 55Kb)
• Blue-eyed grass (.PDF 52Kb)
• Meadow cranesbill (.PDF 46Kb)
• Wood cranesbill (.PDF 50Kb)
• One-sided Wintergreen (.PDF 77Kb)
• Yellow Bird's Nest (.PDF 77Kb)
• Heath Cudweed (.PDF 78Kb)
• Smooth Cat's Ear (.PDF 78Kb)
• Juniper (.PDF 94Kb)

and the All-Ireland species action plan for the Killarney Fern (.PDF 88Kb).