**4. Plant diversity2**

226 Biodiversity Loss in a Changing Planet

Fig. 6. Soay sheep

Fig. 7. St Kilda wren

St Kilda partially escaped the intense glaciations of the Great Ice Age, hence pre-glacial plants are found in its peaty soil. Two hundred varieties of lichen and a hundred and thirty different flowering plants have been discovered on the island. Some of these are extremely rare or ancient, such that a study of these plants helps to explain the distribution and origin of plants in the United Kingdom.

Fig. 8. St Kilda mouse

Limited Bio-Diversity and Other Defects of

Fig. 10. Cultivated land

Fig. 11. St Kilda cliffs, a food source

flowered without produce. Fruits were clearly a rarity.

the Immune System in the Inhabitants of the Islands of St Kilda, Scotland 229

silverweed roots, dock, sorrel, scurvy-grass, rhubarb, turnips and cabbages. Peas and beans

Fig. 9. Deserted house
