Abstract
Abstract
 Although much has been written about Scottish plants, there has been no Flora of Scotland as such since Hooker’s Flora Scotica of 1821. Instead British Floras and distribution Atlases have been published. When BSBI’s New Atlas of the British and Irish Flora was published in 2002, introduced plants were subdivided into archaeophytes and neophytes for Britain as a whole, but British natives that were considered to be introductions in Scotland were not subdivided. As a result the specifically Scottish archaeophyte heritage has been neglected. Taken together, Sutherland’s Hortus Medicus Edinburgensis 1683 and Sibbald’s Scotia Illustrata 1684 provide a baseline from which to investigate the history of many species now considered to be naturalised introductions in Scotland. This has enabled them to be divided between archaeophytes and neophytes giving perspective to their heritage, particularly that of former medicinal plants. A table of such species is presented with detailed comment.
Highlights
Over a period of years I have investigated the history of a number of Scottish plants, mainly in connection with my fifty years of fieldwork on the Berwickshire and Roxburghshire floras, some of which are discussed in Living plants from ancient people (Braithwaite, 2014d)
In BSBI’s New Atlas of the British and Irish Flora (Preston et al, 2002), as an innovation, introduced plants were most helpfully subdivided into archaeophytes and neophytes for Britain as a whole
In the Vascular Plant Red Data List for Great Britain (Cheffings & Farrell, 2005), the editors accept archaeophytes into the class of species to be reviewed for threatened species
Summary
Over a period of years I have investigated the history of a number of Scottish plants, mainly in connection with my fifty years of fieldwork on the Berwickshire and Roxburghshire floras, some of which are discussed in Living plants from ancient people (Braithwaite, 2014d). I have taken the view that the status of arable weeds and casuals that might have been introduced into Scotland before 1500 AD are adequately covered by the New Atlas, and have restricted my attention to other species listed by Sutherland (1683) and Sibbald (1684) that are regarded as naturalised introductions in Scotland These comprise plants used by man, primarily former medicinal plants, and some purely ornamental species. I have worked through the species listed by Sutherland and Sibbald noting those that one or other or both had indicated uses and that one or other or both considered native but that I would consider as at least possibly introduced These might well have been naturalised introductions before 1500 AD. Other species considered to be neophytes in Scotland: Calystegia sepium, Galium album
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