SynopsisThe paper reviews the recent history and present state of knowledge of the flora and its geographical relationships. Key environmental factors are identified and the range of habitats is discussed, with some comment on plant communities. Recent accounts of island flora and plant communities are available for Skye, Rhum and Mull in contrast to the Outer Hebrides where none are available for the main islands. There is no checklist for the flora of the Inner Hebrides, since the islands are best described individually, not as a group.The geography of the flora and plant communities is discussed and related to that of the Outer Hebrides and the Scottish mainland. Inter-island relationships are described and related to habitat differences. Compared with the Outer Hebrides, machair and extensive wetland habitats are lacking through much of the Inner Hebrides, but there is a much greater extent of upland and mountain environment. There is much more woodland in the Inner Hebrides but the woodland development does not attain the levels of the adjacent mainland.Despite the greater extent of upland and mountain environments in the Inner than in the Outer Hebrides, many of the plant communities of central Scotland are absent while those of western character are well represented.

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During a visit to Canna and Sanday we recorded 26 species of vascular plant and 64 species ofbryophyte that do not appear to have been recorded from these islands before. We list these species, plus nine additional vascular plants recently recorded by E. Anderson and P. Castro and seven species seen by us, recorded by Heslop Harrison (1939) but not included for the grid square containing Canna and Sanday by Perring andWalters (1976( ) or Jermy et al. (1978. Notes on some of the more interesting vegetation types are also included.

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