Hardy Shrubs

Walking across the treeless highlands of West Ardnamurchan, in amongst the grasses, lichens and mosses, we come across small trees and shrubs which cling to a precarious existence, often seeming to survive on bare rock outcrops. Some, like heather which, in places, seems to draw nutrition from the very minerals of which the rocks are formed, are easier to identify, others much more difficult.

The Diary had always assumed that this is Woolly Willow, Salix lanata - it has the oval, untoothed and downy leaves of the species - until a website declared that it is only found in thirteen places in Scotland. Perhaps we're one of those lucky places.

Woolly Willow can be anything from a few centimetres high to the height of a man, and seems to favour sites where there is a stream or pond. Their branches are often loaded with moss and scaled with lichen.

Like Woolly Willow, our local Juniper is a dwarf tree which reclines against bare rock surfaces. It was a plant which took us ages to notice, and seems to grow in some places more willingly than others - for example, we've found few specimens up the back of Ormsaigbeg. More about Juniper later.

This is another of the rock-huggers which, again, took some time to identify...,

....an identification helped by finding a relatively rare specimen which was covered in bright, shiny red berries. It's Cowberry.

This one provided The Diary's expert, Hilary Hizzard, with the biggest challenge. We found this specimen near Creag an Airgid during our search for the battlefield. It was all alone, and had what looked like budding flowers.

Later, we later found whole areas of them near Fascadale. Sending some pictures of these to Hilary provided her with the evidence for an identification. She says, "It is, I think, a hybrid cross of Mahonia aquifolium which is Mahonia x decumbens, otherwise known as New Market Oregon Grape, and your specimens are rather stunted and the inflorescences small because of the coastal conditions under which it exists. The older leaves have developed the spine-teeth which are characteristic of all Mahonias."

We've got one just coming into flower on our terrace - and we didn't recognise its wild cousin. You live and learn.

Many thanks, Hilary.