Plant Conservation in United Kingdom

Number of Nationally Threatened Species

Plant Group	EX	EW	CR	EN	VU	NT	DD	Total threatened
Vascular plants	9	4	35	90	220	98	39	345
Mosses	16	-	22	37	41	52	18	100
Liverworts	1	-	2	5	25	24	6	35
Lichens	15	-	40	30	106	207	226	176
Charophytes	2	-	-	7	4	3	1	11
Total	43	4	99	169	396	384	290	667

EX = Extinct, EW=Extinct in the Wild, CR=Critically Endangered, EN=Endangered, VU=Vulnerable, NT=Near Threatened, DD=Data Deficient

Lists of species in each category are available at the JNCC web site.

National Red Data Books

The Vascular Plant Red Data List for Great Britain. C.F. Cheffings & L. Farrell (Eds.). 2005. Species Status 7: 1-116. JNCC, Peterborough. Updates earlier publications (below), increasing number of threatened plants since Wigginton (1999) to 345. Publishing details, introduction and download option from JNCC.

British Red Data Books. 1. Vascular Plants. 3rd edition. M.J. Wigginton (Ed.). 1999. Pp. 468. JNCC. (Uses the 1994 IUCN categories for degree of threat.)

Red Data Books of Britain and Ireland: Stoneworts. N.F. Stewart & J.M. Church. 1992. JNCC.

A conservation evaluation of British lichens. R.G. Woods & B.J. Coppins. 2003. British Lichen Society, London.

British Red Data Books: Mosses and Liverworts. J.M. Church et al. 2001, reprinted 2004. JNCC. Species accounts of 176 species with a further 76 listed as ‘near threatened’.

Scarce Plants in Britain. A. Stewart, D.A. Pearman & C.D. Preston (Eds). 1994. Pp. 315. JNCC, Peterborough. Maps and succinct ecological accounts of 325 scarce, often declining, species that occur in 16-100 10-km squares. In effect, a “pink Red Data Book”.

Northern Ireland is covered by: The Irish Red Data Book 1: Vascular Plants. T.G.F. Curtis & H.N. McGough. 1988. 169 pp. Stationery Office, Dublin. (Uses the pre-1994 IUCN categories for degree of threat.)

Floras

Numerous. Detailed distribution records are provided by the many County Floras.

Flora of Great Britain and Ireland. Volume 5. Butomaceae-Orchidaceae. Peter Sell and Gina Murrell. 1997. Cambridge University Press. (2nd volume due end 2003).

Interactive Flora of the British Isles - A digital encyclopedia on DVD-ROM. C.A. Stace & editors R. van der Meijden & I. de Kort. ETI Biodiversity Centre, University of Amsterdam, NL-1092 AD Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Based on an extended version of Stace's New Flora of the British Isles (2nd ed., 1997) and, for the distribution maps, on the New Atlas of the British and Irish Flora (2002), providing the user with identification tools, descriptions and distribution maps of 3,525 (sub) species, and over 8,500 colour pictures and line drawings.

The key work is the one-volume flora, New Flora of the British Isles, by Clive Stace, 1997, 2nd Ed. Cambridge University Press.

New Atlas of the British and Irish Flora. C.D. Preston, D.A. Pearman & T. D. Dines (eds). Pp. 910. 2002. Oxford University Press. Revision of 1962 atlas, with 2412 dot maps; additional accounts of 942 aliens on accompanying CD.

The Changing Wildlife of Great Britain and Ireland. D. L. Hawksworth, (Ed.). 2001. The Systematics Association special volume series 62. Taylor& Francis, London. See especially T.C.G. Rich on Flowering Plants (pp.23-49).

The Moss Flora of Britain & Ireland. A.J.E Smith. 1978. Cambridge University Press (2nd ed due shortly).

The Liverworts of Britain & Ireland. A.J.E. Smith. 1990. Cambridge University Press.

The Liverwort Flora of the British Isles. Jean A. Paton. 1999. Harley Books.

The Lichen Flora of Great Britain & Ireland. O.W. Purvis et al. (eds). 1992. Natural History Museum, London.

The Freshwater Algal Flora of the British Isles. D.M. John, B.A. Whitton & A.J. Brook (eds). Pp. 702. 2002. Cambridge University Press. (Treats c.1700 species out of an estimated 5000 to 20,000.)

Recent reviews on the status of all groups of plants and fungi are included in: The changing wildlife of Great Britain and Ireland. D.L. Hawksworth (Ed.). Pp. 454. 2001. Systematics Association special vol. ser. 62. Taylor & Francis, London. (Flowering plants, T.C.G. Rich (pp.23-49), ferns & allied plants, C.N. Page (pp. 50-77), mosses, liverworts & hornworts, A.J.E. Smith (pp. 78-102; larger fungi, R. Watling (pp. 103-113), microscopic fungi, P.F.Cannon et al. (pp. 114-125), and lichens, B.J. Coppins et al. (pp.126-147)).

Vegetation

Principally an agricultural landscape, mainly of cultivated land in the lowlands and moorland in the uplands. Originally, perhaps two-thirds covered by natural forest, principally of oak (Quercus robur and Q. petraea), lime, birch and ash, giving way to beech in the south, and Scots Pine in the north. Much forest cleared in neolithic times; today only small areas remain (‘Ancient Woodland’), most of it modified by centuries of coppicing and browsing. Of the forest cover of 8.5%, most is recent plantation forestry, poor in native species. Plant-rich communities: calcareous grasslands, coastal sand-dunes, salt-marshes, shingle beeches, cliff communities, lowland heathlands, peat bogs and fenland. (Paragraph reproduced with permission from Davis, S.D. et al. (1986). Plants in Danger: What do we know? IUCN, Gland, Switzerland).

Plant Conservation Programmes

Plantlife is rescuing individual endangered plants under its “Back from the Brink” programme, with help from statutory conservation agencies, and is building up a set of meadow reserves chosen for their botanical richness.

The Millennium Seed Bank of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, is projected to hold seeds of 25,000 species, concentrating on rare plants in Britain and on the arid and semi-arid areas of the world. It has collected seed samples from 548 native plant species in the UK, bringing the total to 1127 UK species stored. It is planned that all UK native species that produce bankable seed will be represented in the Seed Bank by 2000.

PlantNet, the Plant Collections Network of Britain and Ireland, promotes the value and use of British and Irish living plant collections. It has over 100 members, including most of the major botanic gardens, and has recently circulated a provisional Strategy Plan for 1999-2002. Contact: Judy Cheney, Cambridge University Botanic Garden, Cory Lodge, Bateman Street, Cambridge CB2 1JF.

Flora locale aims to promote good practice in the use and sourcing of native plants for all projects that have wildlife in mind,including woodland and hedgerow restoration and planting, heath and moorland restoration, floristic enhancement of agricultural and amenity grassland, and creation of wild flower grassland.

Also (to be included): UKBAP:species action plans. English Nature's Species Recovery Programme. EN/Kew initiative on ex situ bryophyte conservation. Threatened Plant Database project (tracks populations of threatened species and thus drives fieldwork & conservation action).

Key Institutions

The Statutory Conservation Agencies are Natural England (Northminster House, Peterborough PE1 1UA), Scottish Natural Heritage (Hope Terrace, Edinburgh) and Countryside Council for Wales. Conservation in Northern Ireland is handled by the Environment and Heritage Service. The Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC) composed of staff from all three agencies, handles UK-wide matters. The Countryside Agency (John Dower House, Crescent Place, Cheltenham, Gloucestershire GL50 3RA) advises on countryside issues in England.

Plantlife International, 14 Rollestone Street, Salisbury, Wiltshire SP1 1DX. (Plant conservation NGO with over 10,000 members; ten-year abbreviated history in Plant Talk 17, pp.33–36, 1999).

National Council for the Conservation of Plants and Gardens, The Stable Court Yard, Wisley Gardens, Wisley, Woking, Surrey GU23 6QP (NGO concerned with the conservation of gardens and garden plants, especially old cultivars)

Flora Locale Promotes the conservation and enhancement of native wild-plant populations and plant communities in relation to creative conservation and ecological restoration.

Friends of the Earth, 26-28 Underwood Street, London N1 7JQ

Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Richmond, Surrey TW9 3AB

Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh, Inverleith Row, Edinburgh EH3 5LR

National Botanic Garden of Wales, Middleton Hall, Llanarthne, Carmarthenshire SA32 8HG

The Eden Project, Bodelva, St Austell, Cornwall PL24 2SG

Natural History Museum, Cromwell Road, London SW7 5BD

Trees for Life, The Park, Findhorn Bay, Forres IV36 3TZ, Scotland, UK. A Scottish conservation charity based at the Finhorn Foundation, dedicated to the regeneration and restoration of the Caledonian Forest in the Highlands of Scotland.

National Museums & Galleries of Wales, Cardiff CF10 3NP

Specialist botanical societies

Botanical Society of the British Isles (BSBI), (Co-ordinator's Office) 66 North Street, Shrewsbury, Shropshire SY1 2JL

The Wild Flower Society. Created specifically for amateur botanists and wild flower lovers in the UK. A friendly group who like to meet up throughout the summer months to see and photograph British wild plants in their natural habitats.

Botanical Society of Scotland, Honorary Secretary, c/o Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, 20A Inverleith Row, Edinburgh EH3 5LR

British Pteridological Society, c/o The Botany Department, Natural History Museum, Cromwell Road, London SW7 5BD

British Bryological Society, Dr M.E. Newton (Hon. General Secretary), Botany Department, Liverpool Museum, William Brown Street, Liverpool, L3 8EN

British Lichen Society, c/o Department of Botany, The Natural History Museum, Cromwell Road, London SW7 5BD

British Mycological Society, P.O. Box 30, Stourbridge, West Midlands DY9 9PZ

Other relevant NGOs

The National Trust, 36 Queen Anne's Gate, London SW1H 9AS

The Tree Council, 51 Catherine Place, London SW1E 6DY. Creates awareness of the value of trees and of the need for more trees and their better management.

The Tree Register, 77a, Hall End, Wootton, Bedford MK43 9HP. Provides a record of notable and ancient trees in Britain and Ireland.

The Woodland Trust, Autumn Park, Grantham, Lincolnshire NG31 6LL. The UK's leading conservation charity for the conservation of native woods, now protecting over 1000 woodland sites.

Other

British Wildlife is an independent bi-monthly magazine covering all aspects of British natural history and conservation.

IUCN UK National Committee, c/o JNCC, Monkstone House, City Road, Peterborough PE1 1JY.

Acknowledgement

Based on material prepared by Hugh Synge for the Council of Europe, 1999-2000, with information and help from Nick Hodgetts, JNCC. Help is also acknowledged from Dr Tim Rich. Last updated January 2006.