The Dorset Flora Group was founded in 2007 to record the plants and support conservation in the county.
Our aims are:
- to survey sites throughout Dorset to maintain an up to date record of wild plants.
- to provide a focal point for botanists recording within the county.
- to encourage the study of Dorset’s flora and help people to improve their skills.
- to support the Vice-County recorders, particularly with rare and scarce species.
- to hold field meetings and study days to record the Dorset flora.
- we publish the Dorset Heath as a record of our activities.
Dorset has a diverse countryside with areas of unimproved grassland on slopes too steep or too wet to be suitable for agriculture. In Purbeck, there are extensive areas of lowland heathland with plants such as Marsh Gentian, Dorset Heath and all the UK Sundews, whilst in west of the county there are species rich wet meadows. The clean, chalk rivers are scarce in a European context and many contain Stream Water Crowfoot. Wild places to explore range from the Neolithic hill forts, often with excellent grassland habitats, to ancient woodlands, hay meadows or features like the Beech Avenue at Kingston Lacy where rare orchids such as White Helleborine and Bird’s-nest Orchid may be found.
