Irish ladies' tresses, which resembles
plaited hair, only graces a few sites in the UK and Ireland, meaning the
discovery of around 160 plants on Oronsay is a significant find.
Experts at RSPB Scotland, which manages
a nature reserve there, believes the Spiranthes romanzoffiana orchids, which have a musky vanilla
fragrance, were dormant underground awaiting amenable flowering conditions.
According to the press, volunteer
Gill Watts, who found the orchids with her husband Richard, said: "We were
actually surveying for marsh fritillary butterflies when we spotted all these
white flowering spikes coming out of the ground.
"We thought at first they might be a more common orchid, but after checking with the RSPB reserve manager, we managed to positively identify them.”
"We thought at first they might be a more common orchid, but after checking with the RSPB reserve manager, we managed to positively identify them.”
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Oronsay is a small tidal island
south of Colonsay in the Scottish Inner Hebrides with an area of just over two
square miles.
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