oil on canvas
45cm x 35cm
Iain White 2016
£95
The bog pools and small dubh (black or dark) lochans (a reference to the peaty water) in the furrows between the hummocks and ridges on the bog surface form the subject of this work (& No 52). This topographic pattern is mirrored in the intricate pattern displayed by the bog surface vegetation.
Different species of the peat forming bog mosses (Sphagnum spp.) occupy different ecological niches on the bog surface. For example Sphagnum rubellum may occupy the upper parts of the drier hummocks where it is associated with vascular plants such as the cross leaved bell heather (Erica tetralix). Conversely Sphagnum cuspidatum grows in the water of the shallow pools along with aquatic vascular plants such as the bog bean (Menyanthes trifoliata). In the intermediate habitats along with other species of Sphagnum such as Sphagnum magellanicum and Sphagnum papillosum are species such as the cotton grasses (Eriophorum spp.) and the deer sedge (Scirpus cespitosum) and the insectivorous sundews (Drosera spp.).
These ombrogenous bogs (mires) are characterised by a western, atlantic, assemblage of liverworts (hepaticae) such as Pleurozia purpurea, Plagiochila spp and Scapanis spp as well as lichens such as Cladonia uncialis and Cladonia impexa
Ref: 52a
