No true “Endemic Plants of Ireland” meet the criteria
Define “endemic” up front: a species is endemic when it grows naturally only in one place and nowhere else. Under that strict meaning, there are no vascular plant species that are found only in Ireland. This list is therefore empty for strict endemics.
Understand why this creates no results. Ireland’s plants recolonised the island after the last Ice Age from Britain and continental Europe. The island sits close to other landmasses and has many shared species. That limited isolation makes true, island-wide endemics rare or absent. Also, modern taxonomy splits some groups into many tiny “microspecies,” which can blur what counts as an endemic species.
Note the technical and historical reasons. Long-distance seed dispersal, repeated colonisation, and human movement spread plants widely. Many Irish plants are unique at the subspecies or microspecies level, not at the full species level. Examples to explore include local microspecies in hawkweeds (Hieracium) and dandelions (Taraxacum), endemic subspecies or varieties, and some mosses and liverworts that have very small ranges. Also consider cultivated or discovered forms like the Irish yew, which is a local cultivar, not a wild endemic species.
Explore related categories instead. Look for near-endemics (species mostly found in Ireland but present in a few nearby places), endemic subspecies and microspecies, and restricted bryophytes and algae. Check authoritative sources for detailed lists and maps: National Parks & Wildlife Service (NPWS), National Biodiversity Data Centre, Botanical Society of Britain & Ireland (BSBI), and the Irish Red List. For this topic, focus on those close matches rather than expecting a list of species found only in Ireland.
