Allies

The 'allies' are an assemblage of four primitive families comprising just thirty species. Of these thirty, Moore's Horsetail only occurs in Ireland and as such will not feature in this blog. The remaining species comprise nine clubmosses, three quillworts, five eusporangiate ferns and a dozen horsetails. 

The clubmosses are a firm favourite of mine, largely because I tend to be in lovely, upland habitat whenever I find them, but also because they are such a curious and beguiling group of plants. Here on Skye the two species that I encounter most regularly are Lesser Clubmoss and Fir Clubmoss. Alpine Clubmoss and Stag's-horn Clubmoss occur less commonly, whilst Marsh Clubmoss only occurs here as a gross rarity. I've encountered it in Surrey and in Hampshire, but never on Skye. But it's when I'm high up in the Cairngorm mountains that I really enjoy getting amongst the clubmosses. Interrupted Clubmoss and One-coned Clubmoss are the highlights here, growing amongst plentiful Alpine Clubmoss and Fir Clubmoss. Issler's Clubmoss also occurs very sparingly here, the sole British clubmoss that I've yet to see and hence one of my top targets for the year. There's a gorgeous looking site in Assynt where it grows across an area of rocky slopes, this might be my best bet for connecting with it. I'm hopeful of getting down to Cornwall at some point either in the early spring or late autumn. Once there I know several good sites for the delightful Krauss's Clubmoss, though it does also occur at very low frequency here in Scotland. I would dearly love to find it here on Skye, the gardens of Dunvegan or Armadale Castles being obvious starting points. Clearing up on the British clubmoss flora in a single year would be very satisfying should I manage it.

Alpine Clubmoss halfway up a mountain at Glenshee

There are three species of quillworts in Britain. Land Quillwort is entirely restricted to the Lizard Peninsular in Cornwall. I know a good spot for it near Kynance Cove and have seen it there several times in recent years. Of course, I'm a very long way away from The Lizard! The other two species are both aquatics, Quillwort occurs here on Skye in various sparsely-vegetated lochans. It's too fine to grapnel out, but wading in the shallows can be a productive way of encountering it. The final species is Spring Quillwort, one that I've never seen. There are old records of it from Skye, but the current county recorder feels these are probably all erroneous. It does however occur sparingly throughout much of Scotland. I feel that Spring Quillwort could prove a challenging target to secure. I believe it grows in slightly deeper water than does Quillwort and may even require a bit of snorkelling. Somebody fetch me my lifejackets!

Britain has just five eusporangiate ferns, three adder's-tongues and two moonworts. Finding any one of these is always an exciting moment for me! Adder's-tongue occurs widely across England and Wales but becomes strictly coastal once it reaches Scotland. It does occur on Skye, though I've yet to encounter it here. Small Adder's-tongue, other than in the New Forest, is a coastal rarity in Britain. It occurs here on Skye, and plentifully on nearby Raasay. It's the one I feel most confident about encountering this year. The third species is the Least Adder's-tongue which, in Britain at least, occurs solely on St Agnes on The Scillies. If I want to see it, I need to hit Scilly in the autumn. It's as simple as that. Of the two moonworts, Moonwort occurs both here on Skye and widely across the mainland. It was recently discovered that a second moonwort species, Nordic Moonwort, also occurs in Britain. So far it is only known from the Glenshee area which, rather conveniently, is a site I need to visit to connect with various other target species. 

Moonwort from here on Skye

Least Adder's-tongue on Scilly, found by Ghostie

The final member of 'The Allies' category are the horsetails and Skye is one of the very best locations in Britain for getting to grips with them, lucky me! I have twelve taxa listed on The Checklist, which comprises nine species and three stable hybrids. There are a number of further hybrids that occur in Britain, but these are typically spontaneous hybrids where both parents occur in close proximity. I don't intend or expect to make too much headway into the finer workings of horsetail hybridisation during the course of this year. However, Skye does have some extensive (indeed colossal) populations of hybrid horsetails and these definitely will be visited and studied. Field Horsetail, Water Horsetail, Great Horsetail, Wood Horsetail and Marsh Horsetail are all widespread on Skye. Mackay's Horsetail, Shore Horsetail, Rough Horsetail and Shady Horsetail are more localised, though can be frequent where they occur. The remaining species require somewhat more effort to find. Branched Horsetail occurs in Somerset. Variegated Horsetail does occur on the Scottish mainland, so I'm in with a shout of connecting with it. The final species is Southern Horsetail, a hybrid species which only occurs around the Liverpool area and on Anglesey. Branched and Southern Horsetails would be lifers for me so, should I find myself within striking distance of them, I will make the attempt to see them. Finally, there is an ornamental horsetail which is becoming increasingly popular in garden centres, Equisetum scirpoides, commonly sold as Rush Horsetail or Dwarf Horsetail. As far as I know it hasn't been recorded as occurring in the wild, but perhaps it's only a matter of time. 

  Species available (lifers in red) with a hyperlink to the relevant blog page alongside

Fir Clubmoss

Marsh Clubmoss

Stag's-horn Clubmoss

One-coned Clubmoss

Interrupted Clubmoss

Alpine Clubmoss

Issler's Clubmoss

Lesser Clubmoss

Krauss's Clubmoss

Quillwort

Spring Quillwort

Land Quillwort

Adder's-tongue

Small Adder's-tongue

Least Adder's-tongue

Nordic Moonwort

Moonwort

Rough Horsetail

Mackay's Horsetail

Branched Horsetail

Southern Horsetail

Variegated Horsetail

Water Horsetail

Shore Horsetail

Field Horsetail

Shady Horsetail

Wood Horsetail

Marsh Horsetail

Great Horsetail