The Botany of Western Ireland and Western Oregon

Botanists know when they are home. You could blindfold us, fly us around the world and drop us in random ecosystems. We would know when we were back in our climate, geology and ecosystem, because when we see that familiar assemblage of plants, we know we are home. That sense of home we all have and feel, but botanists can raddle off species names that make that place special. With the trading and gardening of plants from abroad that has undoubtably been happening since humans figured out the shovel, ecosystems around the world are less and less different. And this is speeding up the more we trade and travel. I call it the homogenization of our ecosystems. Humans are reconnecting once isolated areas back to one. Isolation that created diversity, that made species evolve strange shapes, behaviors and colors is disappearing. With these barriers broken down, species are having to compete with new arrivals. That cute Trailing Blackberry of Oregon is having to contend with the more vigorous, fecund, and gladiator-like Himayalan Blackberry. As much as this is a battle for resources on the ground, its also a big shift in the ecosystem: what species are around and how they interact. For the past few months I’ve been living in a cute village, Ballinafad, in County Sligo, Ireland. Ireland is green year around, like my hometown Portland, Oregon. We also have other similarities besides rain: good beer, similar temperature and climate and many of the same plants. As ecologists, we manage land to increase the diversity and abundance of of native flora and fauna. Often this translates into removing alien species and replanting or re-introducing native species. Western Ireland is full of the same foreign weeds that we have in Portland. Here’s a partial list of our common introductions: Traveller’s Joy Clematis vitalba, Indian Balsam Impatiens glandulifera, Polygonum cuspidatum (Japanese knotweed), Convolvulus sepium (bindweed), Laurel Prunus laurocerasus, Poison hemlock Conium maculatum, Fennel Foeniculum vulgare, Bracken Fern Pteridium aquilinum (ok, it is native to both places, but is sometimes battled in both places, like Juncus effusus as well), Melilotus altissimus, Giant Hogweed Heracleum mantegazzianum, Sycamore, Hedge and Norway maple (Acer pseudoplatunus, campestre and platanoides), Horse chestnut Aesculus hippocastanum, Milk thistle Silybum marianum, Periwinkles (Vinca minor and major), Nipplewort Mycelis muralis, Tansy Tanacetum vulgare, Butterfly bush Buddleja davidii, Italian Ryegrass Lolium multiflorum, climbing polygonum Fallopia convolvulus, and Beech Fagus sylvatica. Some of the above species spread very fast and are problems in many areas of the world. The next list, which includes some of Portland’s most invasive plants are all native to Ireland. Reed Canary Grass Phalaris arudinacea, English Ivy Hedera hibernica, Holly Ilex aquifolium, Giant Reed Grass Phragmites australis , European beach grass Ammophila arenaria, Herb Robert Geranium robertanium, three other Geraniums (molle, dissectum, lucidum), Mullein Verbascum thapsus, False Brome Brachypodium sylvaticum, St. John’s Wort Hypericum perforatum, Ranunculus acris, Wood Avens Geum urbanum, Bitter sweet nightshade Solanum dulcamara, Purple loosestrife Lythrum salicaria, Rowan tree Sorbus acuparia, Privet Ligustrum vulgare, Hawthorn Crataegus monogyna, Hazel Corylus avellana, Gorse Ulex europaeus, Garlic Mustard Alliaria petiolata, Teasel Dipsacus fullonum, Yellow Iris Iris pseudocorus, Thistles Circium vulgare and arvense, Brown knapweed Centaurea nigra, Ox-eye daisy Leucanthemum vulgare, Birch Betula pendula, Water milfoil Myriophyllum, Plantain Plantago lanceolata and major, Broad-leafed Orchid Epipactis helleborine, Cock’s foot Dactylis glomerata, Cleavers Galium aparine, Cat’s ear Hypochoeris radicata, Montbretia Crocosmia x crocosmiflora, Tall Fescue Festuca arundinacea, Carrot Daucus carota, Cow-parsley Anthriscus sylvestris, Bent grass Agrostis stolonifera and capillaris, Red Fescue Festuca rubra, various clovers Trifolium repens, arvense and pratense, Sowthistles (Sonchus spp.), Docks Rumex obtusifolius, crispus, acetosella, Dandelion Taraxacum spp., Bird’s-foot trefoil Lotus corniculatus, Rye grass Lolium perenne, Creeping buttercup Ranunculus repens, Lesser clandine Ranunculus ficaria, and a few other grasses. This gets strange when a species like Bird Cherry, Prunus avium, here in Ireland is rare and protected, and in a site in Portland I’m trying every chemical and machine to remove it from a natural area. These species in Ireland are important for the ecosystem: for the birds, insects, and soil, but in Portland are pushing out our trilliums, daisys and Oregon Grape. And this migration goes both ways. I’ve seen hedgerows, either planted, or slowly being taken over by plants I know as native in Portland. These give me a warm hearted feeling of home, but I know they are just misplaced, and a bit out of control here. Snowberry Symphoricarpos albus, Douglas’s Spirea Spirea douglasii, Fireweed Epilobium angustifolium (which actually is a native in Ireland in rocky places, but is invading bog margins from foreign strains) , Epilobium ciliatum, Fringecup Tellima grandiflora, Monkey flower Mimulus guttatus, Blue-eyed grass Sisyrhinchium californicum, Red Flowering currant Ribes sanguineum, and Red Osier Dogwood Cornus sericea (stolonifera) are all spreading here. Also the Irish have replanted many of their bogs and uplands with conifers native to Oregon including Western Red Cedar Thuja plicata, Douglas Fir Pseudotsuga menziesii, and the very common Sitka Spruce Picea sitchensis and Lodgepole pine Pinus contorta. The mink, a native weasel from Oregon has been introduced here as well and is feasting on chickens’ and rare tern eggs every spring. And you would think a small island in the North West of Europe and a continental city 9 times zones away wouldn’t have common species but we do. Our swallows are the same species and we have a few plant species as well, such as the common rush Juncus effusus (OK, different varieties, but same species anyways), the Stinging Nettle (Urtica dioica, some contention here too), Cattail, or called Reed Mace in Ireland Typha latifolia, the Bullrush Scirpus (Shoenoplectus) lacustris, Bracken Fern Pteridium aquilinum, Bearberry Arctostaphylos uva-ursi, Yarrow Achillea millefolium,Toad rush Juncus bufonius, Lady Fern Athyrium felix-femina, and Deer Fern Blechnum spicant. Also the wetland grasses Deschampsia caespitosa and Alopecurus geniculatus are native to both places as well as the sedge Eleocharis palustris What causes big evolutions of some species and not in some in nothing less than fascinating. After spending years in Oregon cutting ivy from trees, clearing the forest of garlic mustard and Hawthorn and Holly, I got full of hatred for these species. Then living and being a biologist in Ireland has forced me to re-look at these species. To see them as they are: Almost perfectly evolved where they are native (here) and just a bit too successful where I’m going back to (Oregon). No, don’t get me wrong, I won’t put down the sprayer or chainsaw, but I might at least apologize for my killing the introduced species. Maybe not shed a tear, but realize ,in the end, we are all just struggling for our own existence, our own continuation, and I can’t knock any species for it. But I’ll still remove them to help save what dwindling native diversity remains. If no action is taken place, our ecosystems will look the same, the same species in similar climates, and our sense of home will be lost, our unique species will be pushed out by those hardened species.