UK: Rare buttercup found in Shropshire field
08.07.10
Ranunculus arvensis (Corn buttercup) was once a common sight in the UK. The spiky seed heads (shown in the image) lend the plant its other vernacular names of Devil's claws, Devil-on-all-sides, and Hellweed. Image © Shropshire Wildlife Trust
Botanists in Shropshire were delighted last week when they discovered Ranunculus arvensis growing at Pimhill Farm. The plant hadn't been recorded for 50 years and was believed to be extinct in the county.
The rarity was found during an arable weeds training course run by Shropshire Wildlife Trust's conservation officer, Fiona Gomersall, who said: "This is very exciting find. It's wonderful that this plant is still alive in Shropshire. Penhill Farm has been organic for 61 years so it has had the best chance of survival here."
The buttercup used to be a common agricultural plant but is now found in only a few scattered locations. A victim, like so many, of intensive agricultural techniques.
Related links:
Find out more about Field Studies Council training courses
Ranunculus arvensis on ARKive
Ranunculus arvensis on UK Biodiversity Action Plan (link to JNCC pdf)
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It’s not the most spectacular looking plant, but when it comes to rarity the Triangular Club Rush (Schoenoplectus triqueter) is the UK’s botanical equivalent of the tiger. This unassuming sedge is disappearing fast with the last remaining specimens growing in just a few small clumps beside the River Tamar.
UK: Rare orchids cut down before seeding
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A comedy of errors of tragic proportions has been played out on a roadside verge in Hampshire for the past three summers.
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UK: Britain's rarest flower under police guard
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Lady's Slipper Orchid (Cypredium calceolus) is probably the UK's rarest wild flower but it's being given extra special protection this year on one of its very few known sites - a golf course in Lancashire.
UK: Rare plant returns to old school haunt
19.04.10
Late last year Plant Talk reported on an ambitious plan to create a third population of one of Britain's rarest plants on the site of a historic population; Charterhouse School in Surrey.