'Always verify your references' - an assessment of the record of Illecebrum verticillatum on Eriskay, Outer Hebrides

摘要

There are two botanical records of Illecebrum verticillatum from the Outer Hebrides. The first, from Eriskay, was published in a book Outer Isles written by Goodrich-Freer (1902). The second is from the nearby island of Barra, where Heslop Harrison (1941) recorded it as 'very rare in a limited sandy and gravelly area in S.W. Barra'. Pankhurst & Mullin (1991), in Flora of the Outer Hebrides, rejected both as requiring confirmation. The Barra record is supported by herbarium specimens but was doubtless rejected as one of many implausible records made by Heslop Harrison's team in the Hebrides. Pankhurst & Mullin (1941) say that 'the habitat in Barra is now quite unsuitable'.