Inventory of wild flora in urban areas – city of Toulouse
Description
This list comes from several years of more or less sustained observations of wild flora in Toulouse. Started in 2005 this inventory is still in progress and consists of identifying all the plant species that grow wild in the municipality of Toulouse.
The painting delivers several information on the wild flora of Toulouse. To understand it well I invite you to read this short presentation.
## The Toulouse flora
First of all a precision, the wild flora of Toulouse is represented by all the plants present in the public space and from spontaneous seedlings. That is to say, these plants that are found in the streets on sidewalks, gutters, walls, roofs but also the banks and beds of ponds, canals, rivers and rivers, lawns, meadows, real estate and industrial wastelands, moors and woods. That's a lot of places for a very large municipality of 118 km2. Only public land is concerned here or if it is private (SNCF roads or private gardens for example), only species visible from the street.
Every year that passes brings at least some new species because of the coincidences of my peregrinations but also new species that arrive in Toulouse, observed by colleagues naturalists. The latest being the small Cyclospermum leptophyllum, Apiaceae known by its common name of marsh parsley, native to South America and met by chance by Pierre-Olivier Cochard rue Magendie in June 2006 from his bike (scanning the gutters instead of looking at the road).
The list now includes 858 native species (historically present in the region) and exotic species (introduced from other regions, Europe, or even the other side of the world). The flora of exotic origin that grows spontaneously in the town is part of our flora and, in Toulouse in any case, contributes to enrich the local plant biodiversity. It is completely illusory to want to eradicate it and a pity not to accept it. Like native species, exotic species can sometimes be described as invasive and it will then be a question of limiting populations so that they do not interfere too much with our economic activities, leisure or our health.
This table must therefore above all be used for what it is: a list of wild plants that have been observed recently in Toulouse. It was not done for the purpose of preserving, locating and dating often very ephemeral sightings. This is also why the observations are not geolocated.
## Selective bibliography
Below are some bibliography elements that show that for more than 150 years, naturalists have been passionate about Toulouse's urban flora!
These works can be consulted on request at the media library of the Muséum d'Histoire Naturelle de Toulouse.
\- _Flore de Toulouse, or description of the plants growing in the vicinity of that city, with an indication of their place of birth, the time of their flowering; observations on their properties in medicine, in rural economy, and the tables of their French, Latin, and Patois names,_ D. Tournon, Bellegarrigue, 1811
Analytical flower of Toulouse and its surroundings, J.B.Noulet, Central Library, 1855
- _Florule toulousaine or descriptive analysis of plants that grow spontaneously where large crops are grown in the sub-Pyrenean region of Haute-Garonne with an indication of their most important properties_ , H.Sudre, Imprimerie Nouguiés, 1907
\- _La Flore de la Région toulousaine and its recent modifications,_ G.Bosc, Imprimerie Cléder, 1961
\- _Toulouse, nature at the corner of my street, collective work,_ Toulouse City Hall, 2013
[Boris Presseq](https://www.brut.media/en/entertainment/toulouse-ce-botaniste-trace-a-la-craie-le-nom-des-plantes-sauvages-f1bbaded-03d9-4f27-9f66-f7bbea25df31), Toulouse Natural History Museum, December 2020
Resources
| Name |
Format |
Description |
Link |
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0 |
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https://www.data.gouv.fr/api/1/datasets/r/f5cbf6cb-888a-4f50-8e35-035de0fec1ab |
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8 |
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https://www.data.gouv.fr/api/1/datasets/r/3b64cfba-99e9-47aa-a9c8-15bfa4725b9f |
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23 |
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https://www.data.gouv.fr/api/1/datasets/r/155a29f9-2361-4b97-85ee-52a0b58fa680 |
Tags
- environnement
- flore
- sauvage
- plantes