First Interactive CD-ROM on the Flora of the Burren and Southeast Connemara Launched

Posted on: 20 January 2010

A botanical guide called The Flora of the Burren and Southeast Connemara, authored by staff from the discipline of Botany at the School of Natural Sciences, was launched recently in Trinity College Dublin.  The interactive CD-ROM provides photographs and detailed information on over 640 species of plants found in the Burren, the Aran Islands and to the east of Connemara.

The first of its type for Ireland, the CD-ROM features a glossary of explanations for the botanical terms used and over 2700 photographs and images to aid recognition and show important characteristics of each species.   The user friendly guide is the result of various projects carried out in TCD’s discipline of Botany and acts as a comprehensive resource for anyone interested in plants, whether amateur or professional, teacher or student.

Speaking about the CD-ROM co-author and Head of the School of Natural Sciences Professor John Parnell said: “We believe that this CD-ROM provides a much needed, much easier to access, reliable and attractive core resource for identification of Irish plant species which will be used by professionals and amateurs alike.”  The other TCD authors are Chloé Galley, Caroline Byrne and Heli Fitzgerald.

The project was run as part of a larger BioChange project which was coordinated by Dr Steve Waldren of TCD’s discipline of Botany.  This multi-disciplinary research project aimed at supporting local and national biodiversity policy in Ireland was sponsored by the Environmental Protection Agency.