Ireland, or Eire in Irish, has 850 native species of wildflowers. The most beloved are gorse and heather. Irish heather, which is pink, is a different variety from the purple Scotch heather. The country's climate of cool, wet summers and mild winters enables plants with widely differing requirements to flourish. Ireland's native wildflowers are diminishing because of environmental threats caused by human activity and the introduction of invasive (introduced) flowering species.
Ireland is a small country with limited geological variations. These factors plus Ireland's history during the Ice Age resulted in the country having a relatively small number of native floral species. During the Ice Age, Ireland was covered in ice until 13,000 years ago. As the climate began to warm up and the ice receded, a land bridge connected Ireland to Wales. This made it possible for plants and animals to cross over to Ireland until the rising sea covered the bridge.
Ireland has a rich variety of natural environments. The coasts offer windswept cliffs, sand dunes and lake shores where coastal salt-water flowers thrive. Some varieties are sea aster, cat's ear and clover. Aquatic habitats are streams, rivers and marshes. These are where arrowhead, fringed waterlily, parrots-feather and St. John's Wort flourish. Bogs and heath are spongy, wet soil made up of decayed vegetable matter. Bilberry, bogwort, heather and water-purslane grow there. Ireland has lost 90 percent of its forests, but wildflowers grow in the remaining woodlands. These include enchanter's nightshade, helleborine and foxglove.
The Burren in County Clare is one of Ireland's most extraordinary areas. A 223-square mile region of limestone pavements, the Burren contains more than 700 recorded wildflowers and other botanical species. They are found elsewhere in Ireland, but not in such numbers. Alpine plants, which cannot tolerate hot, dry temperatures, grow alongside Mediterranean plants, which are sensitive to cold. Such rare wildflowers as gentian, mountain aven, burnet rose and bird's-foot trefoil grow in the Burren. It is now under intense environmental stress because of the impact of people on the area.
Unfortunately many of Ireland's wildflowers are facing decreasing numbers, endangerment, vulnerability and even extinction. For centuries people have picked wildflowers to the point where even such common flowers as the bluebell are threatened. According to the National Botanic Gardens (NBG), which oversees the Ireland's flowers, there are now 11 extinct and 52 endangered species. The NBG cites such factors as changing agricultural practices, overgrazing, cutting roadside hedgerows, housing developments and the proliferation of golf courses. The most important way to preserve the island's flowers is through environmental education and habitat protection.
