Dréimire buí … yellow ladder .. a most appropriate name for this little plant which seems to have little steps up its stems. Perfoliata .. through-leaved .. referring to the leaves which are fused together at the base with the stem threading its way through. This delightful plant is quite unmistakeable, with those distinctive ovate, rubbery leaves joined together to form a sort of boat-shaped saucer, grey-green in colour. The pretty little yellow flowers (10-15mm) only open their six to eight petals in sunshine from June to October and are borne in loose terminal clusters. This is to a large extent a flower of the Burren and the Aran Islands, although there are other locations in Ireland where it grows. It favours sandhills, rocky places and calcareous grasslands. It is a native plant and belongs to the family Gentianaceae.
I first identified this flower at Black Head, Co Clare in 1979 and photographed it in the same area in 2005.
If you are satisfied you have correctly identified this plant, please submit your sighting to the National Biodiversity Data Centre
