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Clackmannan is the historic original settlement that gives the county its name, a small burgh set on a drumlin above the Forth floodplain with its medieval tower and market cross still standing. The town overlooks the Forthside nature reserve and wetlands, and the surrounding agricultural land carries oilseed rape and improved pasture down to the tidal Forth. The Menstrie Burn and the smaller burns that drain from the Ochils to the east pass through old woodland and hedgerow corridors that provide sheltered early forage. The historic tower gardens and the churchyard carry lime and sycamore with a long flowering season.

Oilseed rape on the Forth Carse between Alloa, Tullibody and the Stirling boundary is the dominant April-to-May flow, one of the most reliable in central Scotland, and sets fast so requires prompt extraction. White clover follows on the improved lowland pastures and the amenity grasslands of the Alloa park network from June through July. Sycamore on the Devon and Black Devon valley margins and in the Ochil village gardens drives the May gap flow. Hawthorn is prolific on the lower hillside hedgerows and the field boundaries of the Carse. The Ochil Hills above Alva, Tillicoultry and Dollar carry extensive heather moorland from mid-July through September; the steep access tracks allow colonies to be moved up for a late-season heather crop. Bramble on former industrial sites around Alloa and on the Ochil lower slopes extends the summer forage into August. Himalayan balsam is establishing along the Devon Water corridor. Ivy on the older sandstone buildings of Alloa and Clackmannan closes the calendar in October.