The Fungi of the Isle of Rhum

Abstract

The isle of Rhum lies in the Sea of the Hebrides fifteen miles west of the mainland of Scotland at Morar and seven miles south of Skye. Its area is 26,400 acres, divided into a southern portion occupied by mountains, rising in Askival to 2659 ft., composed mainly of ultrabasic plutonic rocks and a northern half composed of equally barren Torridonian sandstone, rising to 992 ft. in Mulloch Mor. A narrow belt of this sandstone also forms the eastern coast of the island. Such native woodland as existed, presumably wet oak-wood of the familiar highland valley type, had been completely destroyed by the eighteenth century. Scattered trees of birch (Betula), holly (Ilex), rowan (Sorbus aucuparia), aspen (Populus tremula), and willow (Salix), with ivy (Hedera helix) and honeysuckle (Lonicera periclymenum), persist in narrow stream-cut gorges near the sea and in the shelter of cliffs, especially on the north coast, but the only continuous woodland now existing consists of plantations mostly about 70 years old. There is a belt of Scots Pine (Pinus sylvestris) at the head of Loch Scresort, several small plantations of spruce (Picea), with a little pine and larch (Larix), on the north shore of the same loch, a mixed plantation mainly of larch and alder (Alnus glutinosa) on the south shore of the loch, some mixed planting including a few oaks (Quercus) around Kinloch castle and a small wet wood, largely Salix alba L. but with a few trees of Quercus cerris L. east of Kinloch farm. An avenue of sycamore (Acer pseudoplatanus) and a few old beech (Fagus sylvatica) and ash (Fraxinus excelsior) trees survive from an earlier planting about 120 years ago near the present Kinloch castle. Well-grown birch, holly and rowan, perhaps in part selfsown, occur in the same area. A small but interesting and very wet alder-wood occurs at the south end of the island at Papadil, surrounded by a plantation of sycamore, poplar and other trees. Hazel (Corylus avellana) scrub, so well developed in sheltered places under the cliffs of Eigg, is almost absent on Rhum, though there is a very small patch on the north side of Kinloch glen. Small belts of gorse (Ulex europaeus) also occur in sheltered places, notably at Papadil. The rest of the island is occupied by moor and hill pasture with Molinia caerulea and Trichophorum caespitosum dominant over wide areas. Calluna vulgaris is only locally abundant, Vaccinium species are poorly developed, except in a few places on the slopes of Askival and Hallaval, there is surprisingly little Empetrum and Myrica occurs only as a few bushes on the northern, sunny shore of Loch Scresort. Well-drained grassland occurs on the raised beach platform at Harris and behind the dunes of Kilmory bay. The general picture is of a grim and barren land with an excessively high rainfall and an impoverished flora and so it must always have been. In July 1772, Pennant (1774: 278 et seq.) found 'the surface of Rum in a manner