Through their influence on the landscape, use of certain species for food, fuel or medicine, and overseas travel, humans have shaped the distribution of plants ever since their first arrival in Britain and Ireland. James Robertson takes a journey into the tightly entwined threads of plant distribution and human history, and explores why these could make us view some of our rarest botanical treasures in new light.
Anglesey has long been of interest to herbalists and botanists for its scarce plants and plant-rich habitats. Two of these, Spotted Rockrose Tuberaria guttata and Early Sand-grass Mibora minima, are significant members of Anglesey’s native flora, distinguished by their rarity or absence elsewhere in Britain and Ireland.