Vascular plants

Around 490 vascular plants grow wild in Iceland, a figure that includes both native plants and naturalised imported plants that have colonised the island since its settlement in the ninth century.

Over 300 of these plants are dicotyledons (dicots). Of the remaining species, around 150 are monocotyledons (monocots). Around 40 fern species and 9 species of clubmoss grow in Iceland. Only one gymnosperm is native in Iceland, Juniperus communis.

For a checklist of vascular plants, see Íslenskt plöntutal (PDF, in Icelandic but with information in English).

Red Lists are inventories of biological species that are threatened or at risk of extinction in a given country or region. The Icelandic Red List for Vascular Plants is compiled by the Icelandic Institute of Natural History.

An advertisement on the protection of vascular plants, mosses and lichens was signed in 2021 in accordance with the Nature Conservation Strategy 2009–2013 and Act no. 60/2013 on nature conservation in Iceland.

BROWSE AND SEARCH FOR VASCULAR PLANTS