Garden's sapphire tower flower begins to bloom
A rare plant which is native to South America has started to bloom in the south of Scotland.
Visitors will have to hurry if they want to see the Puya alpestris - known as the sapphire tower flower - at Logan Botanic Garden as the blooms usually fade within a week.
The plant bloomed for the first time at the site near Port Logan in 2024, making it the first outdoor flowering of the species in Scotland.
Last year it reached about 4ft (1.2m) high but this year it has grown to about 12ft (3.6m).
The plant - native to Chile - is already partially in flower, with more buds forming on the "alien-like" spikes.
Curator Richard Baines said: "I've been a horticulturist for over 40 years and the Puya alpestris is truly among the top three most spectacular plants I've ever seen in my career.
"Seeing the sapphire tower flower outside its native habitat is a real privilege for us here at Logan and we encourage visitors to come and witness its beauty for themselves over this coming week.
"However, while it's wonderful to behold, the incredible growth we're witnessing is likely down to the very warm temperatures we experienced this spring.
"Unfortunately, this is one of the anticipated consequences of climate change and a warming planet, with higher temperatures allowing plants like these to flourish in Scotland – outdoors – in ways that were never possible before."
The Scottish garden helping Vietnam's plant life
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Yahoo
NHS Grampian submits plan to tackle £45m deficit
NHS Grampian has submitted a recovery plan to the Scottish government in a bid to ease its financial crisis. The health board said in April a plan was needed to reduce a £45m deficit forecast for next year. Since then, NHS Grampian has been escalated to stage four out of five on NHS Scotland's National Performance Framework. The stage warns of "significant risks" to a health board's delivery, quality, financial performance or safety. More stories from North East Scotland, Orkney and Shetland Listen to news from North East Scotland on BBC Sounds The Scottish government has loaned NHS Grampian £90m over the last two years. The health board has confirmed it had provided documentation and continued to liaise with the Scottish government. In a statement to the Scottish Parliament last week, Health Secretary Neil Gray said NHS Grampian's deficit for the 2024-25 financial year was about £65m. He said was the largest of any health board over that time period. Accounting firm KPMG has started what is called a "whole system diagnostic" to help inform a package of support for NHS Grampian. It is due to finish that work by the end of this month. The Scottish government said it continued to support NHS Grampian's board to develop a financial recovery plan in line with the timeframe agreed. Ministers step up scrutiny of NHS Grampian over spending concerns NHS Grampian given £67m Scottish government loan
Yahoo
4 hours ago
- Yahoo
Scottish university to test out Mars Rover on billion-year-old Highland rock
Scotland is making a contribution to space exploration by loaning out one of its ancient rocks to test out a robot bound for Mars, with researchers from one of the country's top universities trialling instruments to be used on the European Mars Rover. Researchers from The University of St Andrews will carry out imaging and analysis of one billion-year-old geological formations that are very like those on Mars to boost the rover's intelligence before its set to launch in 2028. A Mars rover is a remote-controlled motor vehicle that is designed to travel on the surface of Mars and allow scientists to examine more territory, target specific features, and study the planet's geology and environment, reports The Daily Record. Some rovers also collect samples for future return to Earth. READ MORE: Edinburgh man hospitalised after riot police lock down street READ MORE: Two Edinburgh schools to be renamed to 'reduce stigma towards pupils' Using the billion-year-old mudstones that are unique to the north-west Scottish coastline, the researchers will be able to understand how the geological capture of ancient microbial life in these sediments changes the chemistry of the rocks. They can also better understand how these changes can be detected using Mars rover instruments. These ancient rocks are the same that would have been found in Mars' ancient terrains when the environment was much more agreeable to life. Led by Dr Clare Cousins, of the School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, researchers have already been on getting their hands dirty in the fields of north west Scotland with two emulator instruments. "Our understanding of Mars is rooted in geological knowledge inherited from the Earth," Dr Cousins explained. "Rock formations here are vital testing grounds for new instruments that are destined for the Martian surface. "It's hoped these instruments will allow the ExoMars rover team to identify those geological formations at the landing site that not only betray once habitable water-rich environments that existed billions of years ago, but also rocks that are excellent at preserving the long-gone remnants of microbial life.' The University of St Andrews is also part of a larger project in partnership with the University of Western Ontario for their Canadian Space Agency project to test these same instruments at an impact crater site in Germany. It comes after astronomers, including one from University of Edinburgh, have stumbled across a strange object that is emitting radio waves - and they don't know why. The object - a long-period transient (LPT) - is emitting pulses of radio waves and X-rays every 44 minutes. LPTs are a relatively new class of astrophysical objects that are known to emit radio waves periodically. However, this is the first time such objects have been detected in X-rays. Incredibly, the discovery could hint at a new type of physics or new star models in the sky. As of yet, there is no clear cut answer to what the curious entity is, and why it's doing what it's doing. Join Edinburgh Live's Whatsapp Community here and get the latest news sent straight to your messages.
Yahoo
8 hours ago
- Yahoo
In surprise victory, UK's Labour wins Scottish by-election after bitter contest
By Andrew MacAskill LONDON (Reuters) -British Prime Minister Keir Starmer's Labour Party won a surprise victory in a fiercely fought by-election for the Scottish parliament on Friday after one of the most bitter election campaigns in the country's recent history. In an election when race became a major issue, Labour won the seat from the Scottish National Party in Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse following the death of a former government minister. The result provides some relief for Starmer, whose party has suffered a steep fall in support since it won a landslide in a British general election last year after it raised taxes, cut welfare benefits and got into a row over the use of donations. Voters rallied around Labour in the closely watched contest after Reform UK, led by Nigel Farage, repeatedly referred to the ethnicity of the Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar, who is of Pakistani heritage, drawing criticism from the other parties. The Labour candidate Davy Russell won 8,559 votes in the election for the Scottish parliament, which has devolved powers over issues like health and education. The SNP won 7,957 votes, and Reform finished third with 7,088 votes. The betting odds had predicted a comfortable victory for the SNP with Labour pushed into third place behind Reform. Russell told his supporters that his victory had "sent a message to Farage and his mob, the poison of Reform isn't us, it isn't Scotland and we don't want your division here". But a recent surge in support for Reform suggests the party is making inroads in Scotland as well as in England, a year before the Scottish parliament elections are held next year. The support for Reform in Scotland is particularly surprising because the party's brand of low tax, anti-immigration, anti-EU politics, has often been more associated with English nationalism. Farage visited Scotland on Monday, days after a row over an online video put out by his party that falsely claimed Sarwar had said he would "prioritise" the Pakistani community. Labour branded the advert "blatantly racist" and the SNP leader John Swinney urged voters to reject Reform's "gutter politics". Farage responded by accusing Sarwar of introducing sectarianism into Scottish politics.
