RARE PLANTS

Monsal Head is part of the Wye Valley Site of Special Scientific Interest, which includes most of the River Wye from here until just outside Buxton as well as some of its adjoining dales. It is one of the UK’s most important areas of carboniferous limestone, supporting a number of rare plant and invertebrate species. This ground also makes it one of the most flower-rich areas in the White Peak. On Monsal Head’s steep eastern slopes, Britain’s only native privet, Ligustrum vulgare, grows in abundance. Butter-yellow wood avens, tiny white enchanter’s nightshade and clutches of tufted hair grass can be seen in the richer soil of the shallower slopes.

Dainty white flowers appear from pink buds on the upright, slender stems of woodland plant enchanter’s nightshade, Circaea lutetiana.