Join us in New Ross Library for Paul Green's talk on the Flora of County Wexford's churchyards and cemeteries.

Paul has visited many churchyards and cemeteries in County Wexford to study their native and non-native flora. Especially the older churchyards as they can have very herb-rich grassland with well over 100 species of native plant and they hold the best natural grassland away from the coast in the county.

Several rare plants in the county have half of their known sites in churchyards, including the tiny Adder’s-tongue Fern and the Green-winged Orchid. Cemeteries are also great places to look for many of the early native spring annuals such as Common Whitlowgrass and Rue-leaved Saxifrage. The management of these sites will be discussed and the best ways to protect these valued habitats. There will also be a section on some of the non-native plants that are well-established and are spreading from churchyards and cemeteries into the countryside.  

Paul Green is a self-taught botanist. English by birth, growing up in Somerset on the Somerset Levels. Paul has had a passion for all wildlife since a young child, but especially plants. Paul has worked in wildlife since 2004 when he started leading wildlife tours overseas for ‘Greentours Wildlife Holidays’ all around the world, as one of their botanical leaders. He worked for the Botanical Society of Britain and Ireland as their Wales Officer from 2012 through to 2015. Paul took up work again with the Botanical Society of Britain and Ireland in 2020 as their Ireland Officer until June 2023. Paul’s job as Ireland Officer includes looking after all the volunteer botanists around Ireland, organising botanical conferences, running identification plant workshop, etc. Paul also works as an online tutor for Identiplant. Paul has been studying the flora of Ireland since 1988. He surveyed the whole of Co. Waterford from 1997 to 2008, publishing the ‘Flora of County Waterford’ in 2008. The same year Paul started working on the flora of County Wexford and published the ‘Flora of County Wexford in December 2022.