UK’S rarest plants ‘at risk unless action taken to look after verges’
● Conservation charity calls for council management for nature to be improved
Some of the UK’S rarest plants are at risk of extinction unless action is taken to look after the road verges that have become their final refuge, it has been warned.
Species such as fen ragwort and wood calamint are now only found on road verges, with the former hanging on in just one native spot near a burger van on the A142 in Cambridgeshire, conservation charity Plantlife said.
Other plants such as sulphur clover, crested cowwheat and wood bitter-vetch have lost much of their habitats in meadows, pastures or woodlands and are now most frequently found on the side of roads.
In total, Britain’s verges are home to more than 700 species of wild plants, one in eight of which (12 per cent) are threatened with extinction or heading in that direction, Plantlife said.
Some verges are effectively fragments of wildflower-rich ancient hay meadows and grasslands, most of which have been lost through the countryside since the 1930s, while coastal plants have exploited motorways and A-roads which are salted in winter.
The wildflowers provide nectar and pollen, and are a refuge for many declining bee, butterfly, bird, bat and bug species, with plants such as bird’s-foot trefoil – a food source for 160 species of insect – found on many verges.
Plantlife has revealed the top ten threatened species growing on Britain’s road verges, as it calls for better road verge management to help protect wild flowers and plants.
The charity also said road verges were an important connection to nature for people, with their flowers from bluebells to knapweed providing colour and a sense of the seasons through the year.
Trevor Dines, Plantlife’s botanical specialist, 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 wild- flowers and the wildlife they support.
“Sadly, road verges have been woefully disregarded for decades and are increasingly poorly managed for nature.”
He said some very rare plants were “hanging on” thanks to the existence of some wellmanaged verges.
“But we must not get complacent – only genuine management for nature will safeguard these and other plants from extinction.”
He added that simple changes to management such as mowing later can have a major difference.
Almost 20,000 people have signed Plantlife’s petition calling for council management to better benefit wild flowers, the charity said.