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Garron Plateau ASSI is a 4652.18-hectare
Garron Plateau ASSI is a 4652.18-hectare area of special scientific interest
A Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in Great Britain, or an Area of Special Scientific Interest (ASSI) in the Isle of Man and Northern Ireland, is a conservation designation denoting a protected area in the United Kingdom and Isle ...
in County Antrim
County Antrim (named after the town of Antrim, County Antrim, Antrim, ) is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland, located within the historic Provinces of Ireland, province of Ulster. Adjoined to the north-east shore of Lough Neagh, the c ...
, Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been #Descriptions, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares Repub ...
. Upland blanket bog
Blanket bog or blanket mire, also known as featherbed bog, is an area of peatland, forming where there is a climate of high rainfall and a low level of evapotranspiration, allowing peat to develop not only in wet hollows but over large expanses ...
s cover basalt
Basalt (; ) is an aphanite, aphanitic (fine-grained) extrusive igneous rock formed from the rapid cooling of low-viscosity lava rich in magnesium and iron (mafic lava) exposed at or very near the planetary surface, surface of a terrestrial ...
rocks, and flushing by mineral-enriched water has resulted in the formation of alkaline fen vegetation. There are small areas of standing and running water but bogs, marshes, water fringed vegetation and fens cover 70% of the area. The remainder is heath and scrubland, humid grassland and mesophile grassland.
The peatland complex is composed of a series of raised and flushed peat bog and oligotrophic lakes. Plants include '' Erica tetralix'', ''Trichophorum cespitosum
''Trichophorum cespitosum'', commonly known as deergrass or tufted bulrush, is a species of flowering plant in the sedge family. It was originally described by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in 1753 as ''Scirpus cespitosus'', but was trans ...
'', ''Eriophorum vaginatum
''Eriophorum vaginatum'', the hare's-tail cottongrass, tussock cottongrass, or sheathed cottonsedge, is a species of perennial herbaceous flowering plant in the sedge family Cyperaceae. It is native to bogs and other acidic wetlands throughout t ...
'', dwarf-shrubs and '' Sphagnum papillosum'', '' Sphagnum fuscum'' and '' Sphagnum imbricatum''. Garron Plateau is the main Irish location for '' Carex pauciflora'' and '' Carex magellanica''. The areas of flushed peat are floristically rich, with black bog-rush '' Schoenus nigricans'' and brown mosses. The site contains populations of '' Saxifraga hirculus'' and the bog orchid '' Hammarbya paludosa''.
References
{{coord missing, Ireland Nature reserves in Northern Ireland Ramsar sites in Northern Ireland