Lichen and liverworts, are members of a group of plants often known collectively as lower plants because of their simple structure, include some of the most important and unique communities to be found at Tireragan.
In general these plants do not need much in the way of nutrients, especially from soil and are therefore able to colonise and florish in places other plants cannot such as bare rock or the bark of trees.
On the very exposed coastal areas of Tireragan lichens and a few liverworts are the only plants that are able to survive on the rocks, surviving dessication by the wind and salty conditions thanks to the sea spray.
However, it is in the woodlands that the lichen and liverworts truly proliferate thanks to the wet and mild conditions producing what is essential a rain forest ecosystem. Inside the Tireragan woodlands lower plants cover every bare rock and mature tree with many species hanging down from tree branches lending the woods an almost primeval atmosphere.
