BSBI Scotland
@bsbiscotland.bsky.social
850 followers 520 following 200 posts
I am Matt Harding, the Scotland Officer at @bsbibotany.bsky.social Studying, appreciating & conserving wild flowers across Scotland, and supporting the Scottish botanical community. https://bsbi.org/scotland
Posts Media Videos Starter Packs
Pinned
bsbiscotland.bsky.social
Book your #ScotBotanistsConf place now! Its going to be a fantastic day @thebotanics.bsky.social, with brilliant talks on restoring montane woodland, Tufted Saxifrage, urban flora and much much more!
@sarahwatts.bsky.social @plantlifeuk.bsky.social @botsocscot.bsky.social @naturescot.bsky.social
A small, tight clump of Tufted Saxifrage rosettes just catching the morning sunlight on a steep rock wall, high in the Grey Corries. There are three flowerheads, with the last tiny white petals hanging on as they go to seed. Behind, a pattern of brown-green bryophytes and ledges form a mosaic in the vertiginous, pale grey quartzite, with the rock spires reaching towards a bright blue sky in the far corner of the photo.
Reposted by BSBI Scotland
1davidelston.bsky.social
Here's a nice juxtaposition from below Cairngorm earlier this week: bilberry (left) and bog bilberry (right), demonstrating differences in shape and colour of both leaves and stems.
bsbiscotland.bsky.social
Book your #ScotBotanistsConf place now! Its going to be a fantastic day @thebotanics.bsky.social, with brilliant talks on restoring montane woodland, Tufted Saxifrage, urban flora and much much more!
@sarahwatts.bsky.social @plantlifeuk.bsky.social @botsocscot.bsky.social @naturescot.bsky.social
A small, tight clump of Tufted Saxifrage rosettes just catching the morning sunlight on a steep rock wall, high in the Grey Corries. There are three flowerheads, with the last tiny white petals hanging on as they go to seed. Behind, a pattern of brown-green bryophytes and ledges form a mosaic in the vertiginous, pale grey quartzite, with the rock spires reaching towards a bright blue sky in the far corner of the photo.
bsbiscotland.bsky.social
Brilliant! The universe loves a coincidence…
bsbiscotland.bsky.social
At £2.60 a month, this offer means that joining BSBI is cheaper than a monthly cup of coffee at <insertvendorhere>. Go on. You know you want to! 😜
bsbibotany.bsky.social
Our annual membership special offer opens today!
Join us this month & you'll enjoy 15 months of membership benefits for the price of 12.
Those benefits are so numerous & fabulous you'll have to head over here to see them all:
bsbipublicity.blogspot.com/2025/10/bsbi...
Then join us! bsbi.org/join-us
Reposted by BSBI Scotland
joaniemcnaughton.bsky.social
Culbin Forest 24/09/2025, is this Serrated Wintergreen (Orthilia secunda), gone over? Can this be confirmed? @bsbiscotland.bsky.social @bsbibotany.bsky.social @forestresearchuk.bsky.social @edinburghnats.bsky.social
bsbiscotland.bsky.social
So excited for this new #BSBIHandbook on Wild Roses! Order now for your #BSBImembers discount - if you're a student you save more than half the cost of a year's membership fee - QED.
Maybe don't buy it if your name is Eliza Day though... #wherethewildrosesgrow #kylie #badseeds
bsbibotany.bsky.social
Coming soon: 'Wild Roses of Great Britain and Ireland'.
This latest title, no.26 in the series of #BSBIHandbooks for tricky plant groups, has just gone to the printers!
Available for #BSBImembers to pre-order now at the discount price of £16 (vs RRP £25).
Sample pages here:
bsbi.org/bsbi-handboo...
bsbiscotland.bsky.social
Hi Joanie, I think so yes. Ground-elder leaves are usually less divided, only the basal pair of leaflets are divided again (i.e. 2 pinnate), whereas in your photo at least the bottom 3 pairs of leaflets are 2-pinnate. Ground-elder leaf pic here for comparison
Ground-elder (Aegopodium podagraria) leaf, showing single terminal leaflet, undivided pair of leaflets behind, and only the bottom pair of leaflets divided again (asymmetrically, with two smaller leaflets pointing backwards)
bsbiscotland.bsky.social
This Perennial Sowthistle (Sonchus arvensis) was flowering this week for #wildflowerhour, but far more exciting were the weird purplish bumps on its leaves. These are the galls of a tiny midge species called Cystiphora sonchi - according to NBN just the 5th time it has been recorded in Scotland 🥰
Yellow flowerhead of Perennial Sowthistle (Sonchus arvensis) on a long stem above a sward of grass by a wire mesh stock fence. The leaves look odd, with dark spots visible in the grass The underside of the Perennial Sowthistle leaf, covered in round purple spots with a paler dot in the centre - the larvae of a gall midge called Cystiphora sonchi The upperside of the same Perennial Sowthistle leaf, showing the spots as raised and darker purple. Inside each is the larvae of a gall midge called Cystiphora sonchi
bsbiscotland.bsky.social
What wonderful news, and what a wonderful plant! Holly Fern is the best fern 😍
Holy Fern - a rosette of serrated, spikey fern fronds, green with a yellowish midrib, growing high in the Grey Corries in Scotland Baby Holly Fern croziers starting to unfurl, like little bright green nautilus against a greying backdrop of dry moss. Grey Corries in Scotland
bsbiscotland.bsky.social
Great tip on autumn sundew ID for this tricky species pair - thanks @bsbicymru.bsky.social
bsbicymru.bsky.social
Very different looking seeds between Drosera anglica (gwlithlys mawr / great sundew) and D intermedia (gwlithlys hirddail / oblong-leaved sundew). In the hybrid between D anglica and D rotundifolia the seed pods don’t really open and the seeds are just soft pale brown bits. #sundews #drosera
bsbiscotland.bsky.social
I'm no lichenologist, but I think a Peltigera species so yes dog pelt lichen?
bsbiscotland.bsky.social
Ooof, that's a tricky one. The bract can sometimes extend atypically in J. triglumis
J. castaneus is supposed to have acute outer tepals, whereas triglumis is supposed to have obtuse to rounded outer tepals. I'd maybe lean towards an odd triglumis, but v happy to be corrected!
bsbiscotland.bsky.social
The white-flowering form of Woody Nightshade totally threw me when I first saw it. It is common around Stirling, now I know what it is!
bsbiscotland.bsky.social
Hi George, sorry for the delayed reply. I would go for Apple-mint, I don't think the leaf teeth are right for Round-leaved Mint.
Have you seen the Mint ID webinar on our Youtube channel - might be a help?!
www.youtube.com/watch?v=SfTX...
PlantAtlas
plantatlas2020.org
bsbiscotland.bsky.social
What a fruitful display!
scottshanks.bsky.social
Oops a few days late! But here are a few #Speyside finds for the #Wildflowerhour #fruit challenge🍒.
@wildflowerhour.bsky.social @bsbiscotland.bsky.social @bsbibotany.bsky.social #Moray #VC95 #berries #autumn
Clockwise from top-left: Bramble, Blaeberry, Rowan, Cowberry, Bitter Sweet, Crowberry, Honeysuckle, Cranberry & Elderberries
bsbiscotland.bsky.social
This gorgeous variegated Wild Angelica is a beautiful sight! It can still be found flowering in September if you are lucky too. plantatlas2020.org/atlas/2cd4p9...
bsbiscotland.bsky.social
Agreed, Wild Angelica. Gorgeous pic!
Reposted by BSBI Scotland
bsbibotany.bsky.social
We invite all #BSBImembers & supporters to take part in our 2025 survey & help inform our future direction!
All responders receive a 60% discount code on our eBooks until the end of September & there's a prize draw to win a year's free membership.
Start the survey:
docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...
BSBI Member and Supporter Survey 2025
We are looking to learn more about our members, and supporters, and about how the BSBI is working. As a Society, it is vital that we work with members to meet our goals and ensure we have the greatest...
docs.google.com
bsbiscotland.bsky.social
Amazing display of Blue Heath (Phyllodoce caerulea) today on the Sow of Atholl, East Perthshire!
This nationally rare plant is an irregular flowerer, so to encounter it in all its glory is truly special!
#wildflowerhour @bsbibotany.bsky.social @plantlifeuk.bsky.social
Reposted by BSBI Scotland
hannahmul.bsky.social
A carpet of cow-wheat (Melampyrum pratense) along Loch Lomond — is it just me, or is cow-wheat having a great year? Don’t think I’ve ever seen this much of it in Ireland before 🌼🌿

@bsbibotany.bsky.social @bsbiscotland.bsky.social
Reposted by BSBI Scotland
bsbibotany.bsky.social
Hurrah, it's here at last!
Urban Plants by @trevorthebotanist.bsky.social is published today by @bloomsburybooksuk.bsky.social.
If (like Trevor) you're one of our #BSBImembers, you can claim a whopping 25% discount when you order your copy.
Find out more: bsbipublicity.blogspot.com/2025/06/urba...
bsbiscotland.bsky.social
The delicate and beautiful Small-white Orchid, at its only known site in West Perthshire.
Sadly threatened and in decline across much of its range.
A few days late for #wildflowerhour, but well worth a share!

plantatlas2020.org/atlas/2cd4p9...
Two flowering spikes of Small-white Orchid (Pseudorchis albida), approximately 15cm tall, cylindrical inflorescences of small, creamy white flowers, and bright, pale lime-green stems and lanceolate leaves. The left spike points straight up, the right spike leans rightward then bends upwards to correct A single flowering spike of Small-white Orchid, pointing upwards with delicate, tubular-appearing white flowers arrayed right around, each drooping slightly Another single flowering spike of Small-white Orchid, pointing vertically, set in a flower-rich upland meadow with rolling hills and clouds in the background and a single yellow Tormentil (Potentilla erecta) flower in the foreground
Reposted by BSBI Scotland
bsbibotany.bsky.social
This looks like a great opportunity with our friends @mininglandscapes.bsky.social
Apply before 4th June!
@bsbiscotland.bsky.social
mininglandscapes.bsky.social
Interested in digital heritage and community engagement WE ARE RECRUITING Mining Landscapes Ecomuseum are looking for a student or recent graduate to join the team over the summer (full time paid role) for info and how to apply see www.mining-landscapes.org/news
Closing date fast approaching 4 June