County flowers
From Wikishire
County flowers are wildflowers representative of counties. A county flower was chosen for each county in the United Kingdom after competitions run by PlantLife, a charity, beginning in 2002.
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The PlantLife campaign
Plantlife wanted to commemorate the Queen's Jubilee in 2002 by putting wild flowers on the map, and launched a campaign to ask every county to choose its own wild flower emblem. The nation was asked to choose a wild flower emblem to represent their county or city.
The competitions
In its first year, people were asked to vote for any wild flower that they felt best represented their county. The following year, the competition was whittled down to the top two for each of the 92 counties in the United Kingdom, for the Isle of Man and for the largest cities; 109 in all. The results were announced on 5th May 2004 and are published on PlantLife’s website.
Norfolk was the one example of a change after a flower had been chosen. The initial vote chose alexanders (smyrnium olusatrum), but vocal local feeling against the choice forced a change, and so the common poppy (papaver rhoeas) was chosen instead.
UK's favourite flower
The first round of voting for County Flowers yielded the native bluebell as a clear favourite across the country, topping the list in many of the counties. The bluebell was crowned the wild flower emblem for the whole of the United Kingdom, and was endorsed by the PlantLife's patron, HRH The Prince of Wales.
Why a wildflower emblem?
Flowers are a powerful means of expression - everyone recognises the poppy, iconic image of remembrance for those who fell in battle. The simple dog-rose has appeared on heraldic banners for over a thousand years and many towns and villages are named after plants – Bromley is named after the broom, Ramsey after ramson, otherwise known as wild garlic.
Reasons for the campaign
Plantlife launched the County Flowers campaign in order to highlight the threat that wildflowers are facing in Britain. A recent report from the charity shows that, on average, every county in the United Kingdom is losing one species of wild plant every two years due to habitat loss, pollution and intensive farming.
The flowers chosen
Many of the wildflowers chosen as county flowers are rare. Some are found only in the county or in narrow ranges. Some counties share a flower, for example the pasqueflower is the county flower for Cambridgeshire and Hertfordshire, the harebell for County Antrim, Dumfriesshire and Yorkshire.
The following are the flowers selected for the counties of the United Kingdom in Plantlife's 2002 "County Flowers" campaign.
| County | Common name | Scientific name | County status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aberdeenshire | Bearberry | Arctostaphylos uva-ursi | Native |
| Anglesey | Spotted Rock-rose | Tuberaria guttata | Native |
| Angus | Alpine Catchfly | Lychnis alpina | Native |
| County Antrim | Harebell | Campanula rotundifolia | Native |
| Argyllshire | Foxglove | Digitalis purpurea | Native |
| County Armagh | Cowbane | Cicuta virosa | Native |
| Ayrshire | Green-winged Orchid | Anacamptis morio | Native |
| Banffshire | Dark-red Helleborine | Epipactis atrorubens | Native |
| Bedfordshire | Bee Orchid | Ophrys apifera | Native |
| Berkshire | Summer Snowflake | Leucojum aestivum | Native |
| Berwickshire | Rock-rose | Helianthemum nummularium | Native |
| Brecknockshire | Cuckooflower | Cardamine pratensis | Native |
| Buckinghamshire | Chiltern Gentian | Gentianella germanica | Native |
| Buteshire | Thrift | Armeria maritima | Native |
| Caernarfonshire | Snowdon Lily | Lloydia serotina | Native |
| Caithness | Scots Primrose | Primula scotica | Native |
| Cambridgeshire | Pasqueflower | Pulsatilla vulgaris | Native |
| Cardiganshire | Bog-rosemary | Andromeda polifolia | Native |
| Carmarthenshire | Whorled Caraway | Carum verticillatum | Native |
| Cheshire | Cuckooflower | Cardamine pratensis | Native |
| Clackmannanshire | Opposite-leaved Golden-saxifrage | Chrysosplenium oppositifolium | Native |
| Cornwall | Cornish Heath | Erica vagans | Native |
| County Durham | Spring Gentian | Gentiana verna | Native |
| Cromartyshire | Spring Cinquefoil | Potentilla neumanniana | Native |
| Cumberland | Grass-of-Parnassus | Parnassia palustris | Native |
| Denbighshire | Limestone Woundwort | Stachys alpina | Native |
| Derbyshire | Jacob's-ladder | Polemonium caeruleum | Native |
| Devon | Primrose | Primula vulgaris | Native |
| Dorset | Dorset Heath | Erica ciliaris | Native |
| County Down | Spring Squill | Scilla verna | Native |
| Dumfriesshire | Harebell | Campanula rotundifolia | Native |
| Dunbartonshire | Lesser Water-plantain | Baldellia ranunculoides | Native |
| East Lothian | Viper's-bugloss | Echium vulgare | Native |
| Essex | Common Poppy | Papaver rhoeas | Native |
| Fermanagh | Globeflower | Trollius europaeus | Native |
| Fife | Coralroot Orchid | Corallorrhiza trifida | Native |
| Flintshire | Bell Heather | Erica cinerea | Native |
| Glamorgan | Yellow Whitlowgrass | Draba aizoides | Native |
| Gloucestershire | Wild Daffodil | Narcissus pseudonarcissus | Native |
| Hampshire | Dog-rose | Rosa canina | Native |
| Herefordshire | Mistletoe | Viscum album | Native |
| Hertfordshire | Pasqueflower | Pulsatilla vulgaris | Native |
| Huntingdonshire | Water-violet | Hottonia palustris | Native |
| Inverness-shire | Twinflower | Linnaea borealis | Native |
| Isle of Man | Fuchsia | Fuchsia magellanica | Archaeophyte |
| Kent | Hop | Humulus lupulus | Native |
| Kincardineshire | Clustered bellflower | Campanula glomerata | Native |
| Kinross-shire | Holy-grass | Hierochloe odorata | Native |
| Kirkcudbrightshire | Bog-rosemary | Andromeda polifolia | Native |
| Lanarkshire | Dune Helleborine | Epipactis leptochila | Native |
| Lancashire | Red rose | Rosa gallica officinalis | Absent |
| Leicestershire | Foxglove | Digitalis purpurea | Native |
| Lincolnshire | Common Dog-violet | Viola riviniana | Native |
| County Londonderry | Purple Saxifrage | Saxifraga oppositifolia | Native |
| Merionethshire | Welsh Poppy | Meconopsis cambrica | Native |
| Middlesex | Wood Anemone | Anemone nemorosa | Native |
| Midlothian | Sticky Catchfly | Lychnis viscaria | Native |
| Monmouthshire | Foxglove | Digitalis purpurea | Native |
| Montgomeryshire | Spiked Speedwell | Veronica spicata | Native |
| Morayshire | One-flowered Wintergreen | Moneses uniflora | Native |
| Nairnshire | Chickweed Wintergreen | Trientalis europaea | Native |
| Norfolk | Common Poppy | Papaver rhoeas | Native |
| Northamptonshire | Cowslip | Primula veris | Native |
| Northumberland | Bloody Crane's-bill | Geranium sanguineum | Native |
| Nottinghamshire | Autumn Crocus | Crocus nudiflorus | Archaeophyte |
| Orkney | Alpine Bearberry | Arctostaphylos alpina | Native |
| Oxfordshire | Snake's-head Fritillary | Fritillaria meleagris | Native |
| Peeblesshire | Cloudberry | Rubus chamaemorus | Native |
| Pembrokeshire | Thrift | Armeria maritima | Native |
| Perthshire | Alpine Gentian | Gentiana nivalis | Native |
| Radnorshire | Radnor Lily | Gagea bohemica | Native |
| Renfrewshire | Bogbean | Menyanthes trifoliata | Native |
| Ross-shire | Bog Asphodel | Narthecium ossifragum | Native |
| Roxburghshire | Maiden Pink | Dianthus deltoides | Native |
| Rutland | Clustered Bellflower | Campanula glomerata | Native |
| Selkirkshire | Mountain Pansy | Viola lutea | Native |
| Shetland | Shetland Mouse-ear | Cerastium nigrescens | Native |
| Shropshire | Round-leaved Sundew | Drosera rotundifolia | Native |
| Somerset | Cheddar Pink | Dianthus gratianopolitanus | Native |
| Staffordshire | Heather | Calluna vulgaris | Native |
| Stirlingshire | Scottish Dock | Rumex aquaticus | Native |
| Suffolk | Oxlip | Primula elatior | Native |
| Surrey | Cowslip | Primula veris | Native |
| Sussex | Round-headed Rampion | Phyteuma orbiculare | Native |
| Sutherland | Grass-of-Parnassus | Parnassia palustris | Native |
| Tyrone | Bog-rosemary | Andromeda polifolia | Native |
| Warwickshire | Honeysuckle | Lonicera periclymenum | Native |
| West Lothian | Common Spotted-orchid | Dactylorhiza fuchsii | Native |
| Westmorland | Alpine Forget-me-not | Myosotis alpestris | Native |
| Wigtownshire | Yellow Iris | Iris pseudacorus | Native |
| Wiltshire | Burnt Orchid | Neotinea ustulata | Native |
| Worcestershire | Cowslip | Primula veris | Native |
| Yorkshire | Harebell | Campanula rotundifolia | Native |
Outside links
- PlantLife charity
- County flowers page
