The walls of Burry Port Harbour support an unusually rich diversity of wild flowers delivered accidentally from round the globe.

Many harbour visitors are unaware they are trampling round a world-wide floral history delivered over two centuries.

Seed delivered in ballast of ships has been perpetually regenerating year on year.

This is possible because of the harbour wall environment of rocky substrate which is similar to sea cliffs.

Winds and unseasonably hot spells are playing havoc with the rhythm of the seasons with plants and birds arriving and blooming earlier than usual. Skylarks have already been seen along the MCP at Lliedi Haven, two months early.

The variety of flowers has botanists coming from many parts of the world to study and this has encouraged Carmarthenshire council countryside officer Simeon Jones to erect boards along the boulevard of the harbour with descriptions and an explanation of the floral extravagance.

Among those listed are the rare small-flowered catchfly found growing along the top of the wall at it's only Carmarthenshire location.

It is thought that these plants found their way here from Portugal in ships' ballast when the harbour was used to export coal.

An uncommon member of the geranium family also found growing at the harbour is the round-leaved crane's-bill. This plant is only found at a handful of sites in Carmarthenshire.

Specialist plants of sea cliffs occur there too. Rock samphire peppered in the harbour walls was formerly used as a spring vegetable especially in pickles whilst the nationally rare rock sea-lavender, like its larger relative common sea lavender, was sold as everlasting blooms.

The Romans introduced many plants to Wales. Alexanders was cultivated as a spring vegetable and tonic and can be found growing around old monasteries and castles such as Kidwelly, whilst the leaves of fennel are widely used in cooking especially with oily fish.

Both are found along the coast from Bynea - one of the oldest Welsh sea ports - and Burry Port.

Further colour is added by the white flowers of bladder campion and Danish scurvygrass. The leaves of the related common scurvygrass are high in Vitamin C and were famously used by Captain Cook in the 17th century to prevent scurvy on long sea voyages.

The golden flowers and attractive ferny foliage of tansy make it a colourful plant of summer whilst it was also used as a herbal remedy.

A splash of purple is provided by pyramidal orchid, a species more commonly associated with dry sand dunes, and the attractive musk thistle which has a single large nodding purple flower on top of each stalk.