Roadside plants fear

RARE plant species are at risk of extinction unless road verges are saved, experts warn.

Species such as fen ragwort and wood calamint are now only found on verges, with fen ragwort hanging on near a burger van on the A142 in Cambridge, charity Plantlife said.

Sulphur clover, crested cow- wheat and wood bitter- vetch have lost habitats in meadows, pastures or woodlands and are now mostly on the side of roads.

Some verges are fragments of wildflowerrich ancient meadows and grasslands, while coastal plants grow by roads salted in winter.

Plantlife warned many councils were mowing earlier in the year, which only gives early flowers a chance to set seed, and later plants struggle under the cuttings.