Roadside verges where our rarest plants cling on
ROADSIDE verges have become the last refuge for Britain’s rarest plants at risk of extinction, a study has found.
Intensive farming and the loss of land for housing have left species that were once abundant in meadows and woodlands clinging on for survival beside roads.
But with many councils cutting back the verges in spring there is little chance for the plants to flower and set seeds before they are cut down.
The ten most threatened plants growing on verges include the fen ragwort. It once grew in fenland in East anglia but now hangs on in only two sites – one of which is a drainage ditch on the a142 near Ely in Cambridgeshire, where a single plant grows. Despite protection for the site the plant is often buried under plastic cups from a nearby burger van.
Other plants on the list of ten compiled by conservation group Plantlife include the sulphur clover, crested cow-wheat, wood calamint and wood bitter-vetch.
More than 97 per cent of the country’s wildflower meadows have been destroyed since 1930, so roadsides have become a vital habitat for these rare blooms. Verges have also become a refuge for many dwindling bee, butterfly, bird, bat and insect species. Bird’s-foot trefoil, which appears on many verges, is a food plant for 160 species of insects.
Trevor Dines, of Plantlife, said: ‘For too long road verges have been thought of as dull, inconsequential places that flash by in the wing mirror. But these findings underline just how fundamental verges are to the health of wildflowers and the wildlife they support.
‘sadly, road verges have been woefully disregarded. Only genuine management for nature will safeguard these plants from extinction.’