Common dandelion: The St Kilda version is said to be much smaller than this.
A new species of dandelion has been discovered on one of the remotest islands in the Outer Hebrides.
The plant was found on the Isle of Hirta in the archipelago of St Kilda, and is thought to be among the rarest plants in Scotland’s flora.
Only known to grow on Hirta, the dandelion is thought to have most likely come from Iceland, and could have been brought over by birds or Vikings.
Seeds were first collected two years ago by Jim McIntosh from the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh (RBGE) during a survey of higher plants before being grown in the garden’s nursery by horticulturalist Natacha Frachon.
The St Kilda dandelion has been named Taraxacum pankhurstianum after Richard Pankhurst, a retired staff member at the RBGE who has been interested in the research and identification of dandelions for years.
He said it was an honour to have a dandelion named after him, adding: "St Kilda is known to have two endemic species of mice and a wren, and now we know it has a dandelion too."
