Logo of the Palaeoenvironmental Research Unit (POLLEN ANALYSIS), NUI Galway

The logo (above) combines four palynomorphs of particular significance in pollen records from Ireland, and particularly western Ireland.

Taxus baccata (yew; pollen above the trilete mark)

Taxus pollen was recorded in large quantities (over 60% of dry land pollen) by Jessen et al. (1959) at the interglacial site near Gort, Co. Galway, i.e. the type-site for the Gortian interglacial. It has since been recorded in many pollen profiles from western Ireland. The main expansion occurs in the later Neolithic, c. 4700 cal. BP (see Molloy and O’Connell 2001). Taxus pollen, which is distinctive but yet not readily recognisable, has probably gone unrecorded in many of the earlier Holocene pollen diagrams from Ireland.

Left: Taxus baccata in a native yew wood, Muckross peninsula, Killarney (9.6.92).
Right: Pollen-producing yew ( Taxus baccata) (1.4.83, MO’C). Copious pollen is produced in cores consisting of 6-14 scales and each with 5-9 pollen sacs. Yew is dioecious.

Fertile yew ( Taxus baccata) with red fleshy arils (cups) which partially enclose a fruit with a hard, and highly poisonous, shell (28.10.79, MO’C).

Eriocaulon aquaticum (American pipewort; pollen on left-hand side of trilete mark)

This distinctive pollen grain was first recorded by Jessen (1949) in a Holocene core from Roundstone, west Galway. In the meantime, it has been recorded in several Holocene pollen diagrams from the Connemara region. The earliest Holocene records date to the Atlantic period (c. 6500-6000 BP). Today, E. aquaticum, is confined within Europe to western Ireland (its centre of distribution is Connemara, where it grows in most of the oligotrophic lakes that are common in the region) and the westernmost fringe of N.W. Scotland (mainly the Western Isles). It has been recorded at a number of interglacial sites in Ireland (assignable to the Gortian), including the Gort type-site.
This amphi-Atlantic species (more common and widespread in N. America than in Europe today) has a long history in these parts but the considerable gaps in the record make it impossible to provide definitive answers as to its long-term history.

Eriocaulon aquaticum growing in L. Gowlanagower, an oligotrophic lake on Inishbofin, W. Ireland (Aug. 1986, MO’C).

Plantago lanceolata (ribwort plantain; pollen on right-hand side of trilete mark)

As elsewhere in Europe, this pollen grain is a key indicator of human activity – mainly pastoral farming but, as a species of fallow ground, it may also be indicative of arable farming – from Neolithic times to the present. In Ireland, it is of particular importance because of the distinct possibility that grasses such as Molinia caerulea, which are common on blanket bogs, are also contributing to the Poaceae (grass) curve. High Poaceae representation, in the absence of substantial P. lanceolata values, suggests that bog vegetation, rather than grasslands on mineral ground and hence farming, is reflected in the pollen record. Irish pollen diagrams are also noteworthy for their frequently high P. lanceolata representation, e.g. 7-9% of total terrestrial pollen in Neolithic Landnam phases.

Plantago lanceolata (ribwort plantain) in a recently seeded meadow in Drimmeen Td., south of Clifden, Connemara (11.05.90, MO’C).

Osmunda regalis (royal fern; enclosing circle and trilete mark)

This large spore (c. 70 µm in diameter), with a distinct trilete mark, is common in many Holocene pollen diagrams from western Ireland. The record normally begins in the early Holocene (before 9000 BP).
O. regalis has a wide, but decidedly western, distribution in Europe. In Ireland it occurs in a wide range of wet habitats including carr and often in open habitats such as stream and bog margins, fens and cutover bog surfaces. Within Ireland, it has also a distinctly western distribution pattern.

Left: Illustration showing part of a frond of Osmunda regalis, the royal fern. The sori (spore producing parts) are borne on modified pinnules near the apex.

Right: Osmunda regalis, the royal fern, is common in western Ireland. It grows to a height of c. 160 cm and is frequent in carr (woodland on peat) and other wet habitats such as drains and stream margins and the edges of lake.

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