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Wildflowers Count

Wildflowers Count is the UK’s only annual national wild plant survey. Every year you can help us keep track of some our most common wildflowers.

Why count wildflowers?

Many of our more common species of flower can easily be taken for granted, often overlooked while we study rare and endangered species. But common species are important and can be under pressure from problems such as pollution, or they may be doing well because of land management practices. This is why we need to count our more common wildflowers; they are indicators of how healthy our countryside is, and the more counts there are the better.

How can I help?

Wildflowers Count has three different ways to take part. All surveys are done within a 1km square that is selected to be within easy reach of your home. And there is a new list of 99 wildflowers to count. You can choose which survey you would like to take part in, as best suits your interests or experience.

• Wildflowers Path - take a 1km walk through your square, taking note of any of the wildflowers in the Wildflowers Count ID guide (and the type of habitats) along the way.
• Wildflower Plots - the basis of the old Common Plants Survey. We provide you with a small square plot, and a small linear plot, square, within which we ask you to note any of the 99 wildflowers from the guide, along with how abundant they are.
• Become a Super-surveyor! Some volunteers told us that they felt frustrated that they could only record the few wildflowers in the ID Guide, so we have changed things. Those who feel confident enough will be able to identify as many plants as they can.

We cannot tackle a nationwide project like this without volunteers, it really is a case of ‘Our wildflowers need you’!

Who counts wildflowers?

Anyone who has an interest in spending time outdoors can help. No-one needs to be put off by thinking that they don’t know enough about wildflowers as all the materials will be provided in the free survey pack:

• Guidance notes which will show you how to get started.
• The full colour ID guide containing 99 of the UK’s wildflowers.
• The survey sheet with all the plants and habitat types listed.
• Safety notes.

And you can always email or telephone if you need some help. Email wfc@plantlife.org.uk or telephone our hotline on 01722 342755.

How do I get started?

You can register for the 2012 survey by clicking the link below, emailing wfc@plantlife.org.uk or leaving a message on our telephone hotline 01722 342755.

• Register for Wildflowers Count 2012

We will then send you a survey pack. Once you’re done you can either post us the results or enter them online.

• Click here to enter your results online

Downloads

If you’re signed up to survey, the following resources might be useful - click on each to download:

• Frequently Asked Questions
• Survey form
• Health and Safety guidance
• Access rights and responsibilities
• Landowner permission letter
• Scottish Natural Heritage outdoor access leaflet
• Ordnance Survey guidance
• Wildflowers Count e-bulletin - Winter 2012
• Wildflowers Count e-bulletin - Autumn 2011

Events

There will also be WFC event days during the year, where you can learn about wildflowers and the survey, and meet other people wanting to take part. A diary of these events and many other events will be found on our Activities page.

Christmas card competition 2012

At Plantlife we love wild plants and know that many other people do too.

We want you to help us to celebrate our love of native wild plants by asking you to design our 2012 charity Christmas cards.  The competition will consist of three adult categories and two children’s categories. 

We are looking for beautiful designs that people will want to see on the front of their Christmas cards this year.  Plantlife cards are sold to members of the public to raise much needed funds for the important work we do to protect our native flowers and plants and to raise our profile.

Theme: Winterscape – Inspired by Nature

This winter we want you to go outside and explore the natural environment around you.  Using our wild flowers and plants as inspiration, your image could focus on plants themselves, or depict the relationship between wild plants, native fauna and the wider landscape.  Whatever you choose as the topic for your entry it must be something that reflects what winter means to you.

We’re looking for winners in each of the following categories:

• Children: Age 0-6
• Children: Age 6-11
• Adults: Photograph
• Adults: Botanical illustration
• Adults: Artist’s impression

Children’s categories

For more information about entering our children’s categories, please visit our Wild About Plants website by clicking here:

• Information on Plantlife Christmas card competition children’s categories.

Adult categories

• Photograph - Close up or landscapes. Only digital entries will be accepted.  Images must ideally be A4 and 300dpi in order to be reproduced at a professional printing standard.
• Botanical illustration - In this category we are looking for a detailed depiction of native wild plants. Images must be A4 or A5 in size and submissions must either be originals or a scanned high resolution image.  Please note that originals will not be returned to individuals.
• Artist’s impression - Let your creative juices flow.  This image can be of a wild plant or the wider landscape and could be in any medium e.g. a watercolour, collage, sketch, oil, charcoal printing etc. As above, images must be A4 or A5 in size and submissions must either be originals or a scanned high resolution image.  Please note that originals will not be returned to individuals.

Please clearly state the following with your entry: Entrance category, name of image and a short description explaining the entry. Please also confirm your name, address and a telephone number we can contact you by. We regret that only one entry per category may be submitted.

Entries must be emailed to winterscape@plantlife.org.uk or on a CD sent to:

Winterscape Christmas Card Competition,
Plantlife International,
14 Rollestone Street,
Salisbury,
Wiltshire,
SP1 1DX.

Prizes

There will be six adult winners (two from each category) whose designs will be made up into Christmas cards, which will be sold to the public this year.  Winners will receive a pack of their cards and a framed copy of their design. 

First prize winners in each of the two children’s categories will have their designs made into Christmas cards which will be sold to the public this year.  Winners will receive a pack of their cards, some arts materials and a voucher for their school/preschool. Second and third prize winners will receive some arts materials and a voucher for their school/Pre-School.

A selection of winning and other entries will be published on the Plantlife website www.plantlife.org.uk and the Wild About Plants website www.wildaboutplants.org.uk

1.  Entries must be received by Friday 1st June 2012.  Winners will be announced by Friday 15th June and will be notified by telephone, post or email.
2.  Winners will be chosen by a panel of judges which will include a Plantlife trustee, Plantlife’s CEO, the Individual and Corporate Giving Manager and the Wild About Plants Project Manager.
3.  The judges’ decision will be final and no correspondence will be entered into.
4.  Images must not previously have been offered for sale or published.
5.  Images must not be manipulated except to remove spots or scratches. We reserve the right to exclude any image.
6.  Entries must be the entrant’s own, original work. 
7.  Entries become the property of Plantlife and are not returned. Entrants transfer all of their ownership rights (including all copyright) of their designs to Plantlife and consent to Plantlife reproducing their design in the future without cost or attribution.
8.  In the event of unforeseen circumstances, Plantlife reserves the right to (a) substitute alternative prizes of equivalent or greater value and (b) in exceptional circumstances to amend or foreclose the competition without notice.
9.  Plantlife will use any data submitted by entrants only for the purposes of running the competition. By entering this competition all entrants consent to the use of their personal data by Plantlife for the purposes of the administration of this competition and any other purposes to which the entrant has consented.
10.  All children’s entries must be accompanied by a consent form signed by the Parent/Guardian.
11.  Only one entry per category.

Green plants, lichens and fungi: what’s the difference?

There is an abundant diversity of plants and fungi in Britain.

On any walk outside you’re likely to be able to find a wide range of flowers, ferns, mosses, lichens and fungi. But what are all these different things?

Dr Trevor Dines, botanist and Plantlife Cymru Conservation Manager, reveals all below:

Green plants

These are all the plants that contain chlorophyll – the green stuff that absorbs sunlight and makes sugar from water and carbon dioxide through the process of photosynthesis.

Green plants are split into three groups: vascular plants that have an internal plumbing system (flowering plants, conifers, ferns, horsetails and clubmosses), bryophytes that are small enough not to need internal plumbing (mosses, liverworts and hornworts) and green algae (such as diatoms, stoneworts and green seaweeds).

Lichens

Lichens are special organisms where an alga grows together with a fungus and form a new structure.

The alga can photosynthesise (like green plants) and provides the fungus with sugars, while the fungus provides the alga with a protective structure in which to grow.

It’s a perfect symbiosis, and one that gives rise to lichens that can grow almost everywhere, from shaded tree trunks to sun-baked rocks and even toxic mine waste.

Fungi

Fungi are neither plants nor animals, but are in a separate Kingdom of their own.

As well as the familiar mushrooms and toadstools, they include brackets, truffles, rusts, yeasts and moulds.

Fungi play critical roles in ecosystems; for example they break down organic matter and form symbiotic mycorrhizal associations with many green plants, without which neither would survive.

10 Important woodlands for plants

There are 150 areas across the UK that Plantlife believes are exceptional when it comes to wild plants and fungi.

These ‘Important Plant Areas’ include some of our most famous woodlands and some, perhaps, a little less well known.

Below is a sample of ten. Click any of the names to discover more about them.

• Alderley edge
• Arlington park and woods
• Black Wood of Rannoch
• Bolton Abbey Woods
• Breckland
• Epping Forest
• Loch Lomond Woods
• Meirionnydd Oakwoods
• The New Forest
• Upper Lough Erne

To learn more about our Important Plant Areas please click on the link below:

• Important Plant Areas.

What is ‘coppicing’ and why do we do it?

The word ‘coppice’ can often be found in the names of many woodlands throughout the UK. But what is ‘coppicing’? And why does Plantlife think its a good thing? Richard Moyse, manager of Plantlife’s Ranscombe Farm Reserve, explains:

“Nearly half of Ranscombe Farm reserve is woodland, and a large proportion is sweet chestnut. One of the ways in which we manage it is by ‘coppicing’.

This is an ancient form of woodland management, which has been practised at Ranscombe for hundreds of years. Originally it was a way for our ancestors to obtain timber for building or firewood. Today it is recognised as a vitally important way of protecting rare woodland plants, butterflies, and birds.

Coppicing involves cutting down areas of woodland on a cycle of 15 to 25 years. Although it looks drastic, it results in a superb show of wildflowers in the first few years - coppicing is what helps maintain the wonderful show of bluebells in Kent’s woodlands. Then the trees quickly grow back, making good habitat for birds and dormice.

Over the autumn and winter, several areas of woodland at Ranscombe are being coppiced as part of their longterm management. This work involves a lot of tree felling, and use of heavy machinery, so if you ever visit, please take care and look out for warning signs. The cut timber isn’t wasted, as most will be used to make locally-produced wooden fencing.

"Coppicing is what helps maintain the wonderful show of bluebells in Kent’s woodlands."

Open patches in the woodland are among the richest places for plants on the whole reserve, so stumps will be removed in a few areas. This creates wider, sunny glades which benefit rare wildflowers such as meadow clary, lady orchid, and hairy mallow.”

Plantlife’s Ranscombe Farm Reserve is open to the public all year round. To find out more visit our Discover Ranscombe section.

Our 10 most threatened woodland plants

One in six of our woodland flowers is threatened with extinction. Below are ten plants we believe most at risk, all of which are listed as either Critically Endangered or Endangered on the UK Red Data List.

1. Spreading bellflower

Campanula patula

Delicate with large, blue, star-like flowers, and with petals that spread widely, hence the name. In England, occurs mainly in the West Midlands (Herefordshire, Gloucestershire, Worcestershire), typically on sunny banks and the sides of tracks, lanes or roads, especially in open woodland or on woodland edges. Prefers dry, well-drained, fairly infertile sandy or gravelly soils.

Reasons for decline: Cessation of coppicing and other disturbance in woodland, and increased use of herbicides on roads and rail verges.

Requirements to do well: Disturbance and coppicing to create woodland glades.

2. Red helleborine

Cephalanthera rubra

A beautiful orchid which grows only in beech woods on calcareous soils and in deep shade. Very rare, with only a few southern England sites with a total of less than 50 plants remaining, although it once grew at 15 sites. Grows to around 65cm in height and has 9-10 deep pink flowers.

Reasons for decline: Has always been rare, but increased rarity possibly due to the rarity of its pollinators and the right habitat to support those pollinators.

Requirements to do well: Removal of shrubs and trees to create more open habitat, but not too open – this orchid needs the right, subtle management.

3. Wood calamint

Clinopodium menthifolium

A rare perennial herb with pink or purplish-pink flowers, growing on woodland edges and scrub at a single dry chalk valley on the Isle of Wight. The flowers are arranged in whorls on long spike stems, and the dark green leaves give off a minty smell when crushed.

Reasons for decline: Was always restricted to a single site, but was once much more abundant there – lack of coppicing and overgrowth by nettles and other smothering plants has led to its decline.

Requirements to do well: Coppicing and clearance of invasive ground cover.

4. Green hound’s-tongue

Cynoglossum germanicum

A short-lived herb of lowland deciduous woodland glades or edges, sometimes also found in hedgebanks.

Reasons for decline: Unclear, and difficult to record as some populations seem to come and go, although it needs glade conditions and populations in Surrey did well after the great storm of 1987 opened up its habitats.

Requirements to do well: Disturbance and opening up of tree canopies.

5. Ghost orchid

Epipogium aphyllum

A pale orchid, classified as extinct until a single plant was rediscovered in a Herefordshire wood in 2009. It will now be reclassified as Critically Endangered. Usually grows in deep leaf litter although the recent rediscovery was only a small 5cm high.

Reasons for decline: Loss of beech wood habitat; always quite rare.

Requirements to do well: Maintaining the right habitat.

6. Small cow-wheat

Melampyrum sylvaticum

A small annual plant with deep-yellow flowers, found in broadleaved, humid, ravine-type woodlands, where it is semi-parasitic on a wide range of plants. Its large seeds that have poor dispersal ability and are susceptible to predation.

Reasons for decline: Afforestation, nutrient enrichment and grazing and trampling by livestock.

Requirements to do well: Maintaining open tree canopies, but not too open as humid environment is necessary, and controlling aggressive ground flora.

7. Yellow bird’s-nest

Monotropa hypopitus and two sub-species

A saprophytic perennial herb that grows in leaf litter in shaded woodlands, especially beech and hazel. The whole plant is a yellowy-brown colour

Reasons for decline: Many sites lost before 1930 but more declines in more recent years, possibly due to changes in woodland management, overgrazing or habitat fragmentation.

Requirements to do well: Careful monitoring to ensure adequate habitat and if necessary preventing overgrazing of sites.

8. Lady orchid

Orchis purpurea

Occurs in short grassland, woodland edges and sometimes in open woodland, such as at Plantlife’s Ranscombe Farm Reserve in Kent. It is now very rare in the UK. Favours alkaline or neutral soils. Can grow up to 80 cm tall and occasionally larger, and the stunning flower spikes may contain up to 200 individual flowers of dappled purple.

Reasons for decline: Damage by slugs and deer overgrazing the ground flora, particularly muntjac, may affect lady orchid, and closing in of the woodland canopy may provide too much shade. Illegal picking and uprooting is also a risk.

Requirements to do well: Maintaining open conditions in the woodland, and monitoring deer grazing.

9. Spiked rampion

Phyteuma spicatum

A member of the bellflower family with unusual creamy-white spikes. According to the fairytale, spiked rampion was the plant Rapunzel stole and as a result was locked in her tower – in mainland Europe, it is known as ‘white Rapunzel’. Native only to East Sussex in the UK, currently present at only eight sites (garden escapes have occurred elsewhere in the UK). Grows along the shady edges of paths and rides in woodlands, and in the hedge banks of roadside verges.

Reasons for decline: Shading out of habitat through lack of woodland management.

Requirements to do well: Coppicing to create glades in woodlands on a cycle of active management.

10. Wilmott’s whitebeam

Sorbus wilmottiana

Small tree with red fruits occurring only on steep, rocky limestone slopes in the Avon Gorge and nowhere else. Approx 40 trees remain, along with other rare Sorbus species in the Gorge.

Reasons for decline: Has always been rare, loss of habitat of open rocky slopes is a threat; overgrazing threatens regeneration.

Requirements to do well: Management or fencing out of livestock.

10 Lichens, mosses and fungi to look out for

At this time of year woodland wildflowers are thin on the ground. Most will wait until spring before blooming again. But that doesn’t mean there is nothing to see…

No longer overshadowed by their more garish relatives, now is the perfect time to discover the mosses, lichens and fungi that call our woodlands home. For while they may be small, they are no less beautiful. Below, Ray Woods, one of Plantlife’s lower plant experts, presents ten worth looking out for, next time you take a walk in the woods.

1. Devil’s matchstick

Cladonia floerkeana

Also known as ‘Bengal match lichen’ and ‘British soldier’, this lichen is distinguished by the bright red caps that sit atop its branches (also known as ‘podetia’).

Look out for it on: Devil’s matchstick has a fondness for dead and rotting wood. Look out for it on fallen logs, fence posts and heaths and moors.

2. Oakmoss lichen

Evernia prunastri

Oakmoss lichen has a distinctive odour - mossy and earthy yet slightly sweet - and for this reason it is highly prized by the perfume industry.

Look out for it on: As its name suggests, this lichen prefers the bark and branches of the sturdy oak, although it can also be found on other deciduous trees and some conifers.

3. Witches’ butter

Exidia glandulosa

Also known as ‘black jelly roll’ or ‘warty jelly fungus’. Witches’ butter is often seen growing like a black, shiny blister. These can grow and merge, creating a swathe of dark, quivering globs that, once dried out, leave a crust upon the tree.

Look out for it on: The dead but still attached branches of deciduous trees, oak, beech and hazel especially. 

4. Carpet moss

Mnium hornum

One of our commonest mosses, it carpets the ground (hence the name) turning golden to dark green as it ages. In the past people put carpet moss in their beds, allegedly as an aid to a better night’s sleep.

Look out for it on: Carpet moss is particularly fond of woodland floors, often covering rocks, tree stumps and fallen logs.

5. Frilly lettuce lichen

Platismatia glauca

A fancy, frilly, pale-green lichen as its name suggests.  In years gone by, this lichen and its close relations were gathered in Europe for a very practical purpose: to make a range of brown dyes. In particular, it was used to add colour to wool.

Look out for it on: The trunk, bark and branches of conifer trees.

6. Crisped neckera moss

Neckera crispa

A rather luxuriant moss, with leaves that grow in fan-shaped structures. Crisped neckera moss is often a glossy green, turning brown as it ages.

Look out for it on: Rocky areas, slightly in the shade. This moss prefers rocks but can be found on bark where trees grow amongst them.

7. Glue fungus

Hymenochaete corrugata

The woodland floor is full of fungi that can’t wait to feast on fallen twigs. This fungus has a sneaky way to get in first: it forms a sticky surface on living twigs and so catchs the dead wood before it reaches the ground.

Look for it on: Hazel. You can often spot groups of twigs, seemingly stuck together in mid-air, as it harvests dead plant matter to feed on.

8. Electrified cat’s tail moss

Rhytidiadelphus triquetrus

Also known as big shaggy moss. Fuzzy and unkempt with leaves sticking out in all directions, its appearance not only inspired its names, it is also thought to be botanically unique.

Look for it on: the ground in woodlands, including the more acidic soil of pinewoods. Electrified cat’s tail moss has also been known to pop up in churchyards.

9. Old man’s beard lichen

Old mans beard lichen

Usnea spp.

Pale and shaggy, these lichens can also be life-savers: many contain Usnic acid, an antibiotic and anti-fungal chemical. Native Americans allegedly used it to treat battle wounds.

Look out for it on: trees, especially the smaller, twig-like branches (although it can also be found growing on trunks and branches too).

10. Red stemmed feather moss

Pleurozium schreberi

A native of northern forests where it covers the woodland floor. When wet, the scarlet stems that give this moss its name can easily be seen beneath the translucent green leaves. The ‘pleuro’ in its scientific name comes from the Latin for ribs.

Look for it on: the ground, especially in open woods containing patches of heath (for example, the New Forest).

Access rights and responsibilities

Access rights and responsibilities are different in different countries of the UK.

For information about your rights and responsibilities when conducting wildflower surveys, please download and read the PDF below:

• Access to the countryside

A paper copy can be requested from our Head Office if required.

Protecting the colour in our road verges

New Plantlife campaign 2012

Road verges are close to many members’ hearts. Plantlife receives more enquiries about them than anything else, from both members and non-members frustrated and upset when their favourite local flower-rich verge is mown to within an inch of its life.

Next year’s campaign for better management is in the planning stages and Plantlife wants to hear about your favourite road verges and any complaints you have about local management.

Road verges are the bank we should all be investing in. They give so much pleasure: we pass them every day, colourful slivers of countryside in towns, or vital sanctuaries for wildlife in an intensively farmed countryside. Whilst there are only 85,000 hectares of flower-rich grassland left, there are about 238,000 hectares of road verge in Great Britain. They are literally on our doorstep.

Yet so often, this vital habitat is mismanaged and under attack; cut too early when still in flower, sprayed off with poisons as ‘weeds’ and smothered with cuttings so leading to the loss of diversity as nettles, coarse grasses and cow parsley take over. As the floral diversity disappears, so both its value for wildlife and its beauty vanishes.

How are the road verges near you? Is there a verge that gives you particular pleasure? Or one that you wish to complain about? If so, please let us know below:

Gallery of merchandise

Take a closer look at our merchandise by scrolling through the gallery below.

To have a look at the images in our calendar, please click here.

< Back to Plantlife shop.

Health and safety

We want you to enjoy volunteering and for every field visit to be trouble-free.

A few simple precautions make a world of difference, both preventing accidents and aiding you and others if things do go wrong.

Detailed guidance on health and safety when volunterring can be downloaded by clicking on the link below:

• Health and safety guidance for wild plant surveyors

Please request a paper copy from our Head Office if required.

2011 photo competition winners

Thanks to everyone who entered the 2011 Plantlife photo competition.

Scroll though the winning images in the gallery below. Thanks to Salisbury Photo Centre for supplying the overall winner with the prize of a 20 x 16 inch Lambda print of their picture.

The images feature in the Plantlife 2012 calendar, available to buy here. All proceeds go towards supporting our conservation work.

• Plantlife shop.

What’s on at Ranscombe

Why not come and explore Ranscombe at one of our events or guided walks? 

For a full list of what’s on this year download the free brochure by clicking on the link below:

• What’s on at Ranscombe 2012

For a list of what’s coming up in the next couple of months take a look at our online list by clicking the link below:

• List and details of events, walks and activities at Ranscombe

Volunteering at Ranscombe

With 620 acres of reserve and a small staff team, we would never be able to carry out the work we do without our volunteers.

If you would like to volunteer with us on a regular basis, we have a team of volunteers that meet each Wednesday. We provide all the tools and expertise needed, but we need your enthusiasm and energy!

We also hold a number of volunteer work days over autumn and winter with tasks suitable for the whole family. These will be held on the following Sundays:

4th September 10.00 - 3.00

6th November 10.00 - 3.00

8th January 10.00 - 3.00

4th March 10.00 - 3.00

For further information on volunteering with us please get in touch by email at ranscombe@plantlife.org.uk or by telephone on 01634 292062.

On the ground at Ranscombe

Everything we do at Ranscombe is intended to improve the habitat for as many plant species as possible. 

And when plants thrive so do all the wildlife they support - from birds to bees to butterflies.

Our tenant farmer manages the arable fields, where he grows mainly wheat. Around many you will see grass headlands. These are strips around each field that are not sprayed, creating a haven for flowers and other wildlife and also act as a buffer between different areas of the farm and other conservation measures.

The woodland is managed through coppicing, which involves areas of trees being felled each year in rotation. This has been a traditional method of managing the woods for over 200 years creating a unique habitat of trees and flowers. As the trees grow back in their distinctive way with many small trunks rather than one single trunk.

The wood from this has many uses, from logging to biofuel. As the trees regrow, light reaches the woodland floor allowing plants such as bluebells to thrive.

Downloadable guides and leaflets

Why not discover Ranscombe Farm Reserve with the help of one of our free downloadable guides?

Click on any of the options below to download (all in PDF format):

Maps and walks

• Reserve guide (including map of the reserve)
  
• Poppy walk
• Map of Mill Hill route
• Map of Town Hill routes

Newsletters

• Autumn 2011

Wildflower ID sheets

• Orchids found at Ranscombe

Getting to Ranscombe Farm Reserve

Set on the edge of Medway, Ranscombe is ideally placed for visitors coming from near or far, with the M2 motorway and national rail connections on our doorstep.

How to get there:

On foot

There are numerous footpaths from Strood, Cuxton and Cobham.

Car

There is a small car park at the main entrance on the A228. Additional parking is available at the Strood entrance near Bligh Way.

Bus

There is a bus stop 1/2 mile from the main entrance served by the 51 service.

Train

The main entrance is 3/4 mile from Cuxton station on the Medway Valley Line. Strood station, served by the High Speed Rail Service is 2 miles away.

• Click here to view a map of area
• Click here to download a map of the reserve
  

Discover Ranscombe

Come and explore the woods and fields of Ranscombe Farm Reserve.

Whether it be enjoying our carpets of bluebells in the spring, summer picnics in a sun-filled glade, or autumn walks in misty woodland, Ranscombe can offer it all.  And if you enjoy wild flowers, the reserve is famous for them…

Click on any of the links in the menu on the left to discover more about Ranscombe and how to get there. Why not download a walk sheet or wildflower guide and bring it with you on a visit? Or, if you can spare time, join our team of keen and friendly volunteers?

Ranscombe Farm Reserve is managed by Plantlife in partnership with Medway Council with funding for three years from the Heritage Lottery Fund.

Please get in touch with us at:

Ranscombe@plantlife.org.uk.
Unit 37 Medway SBC
Knights Road
Strood ME2 2BE
01634 292062

Which plants should I use when creating a pond?

We recommend you use native and, where possible, locally sourced plants for your pond’s oxygenating and floating plants.

Native plants are also great choices for pond margins, but carefully selected non-native plants - ones that are not going to be invasive - can be used here too. Place pond margin plants in baskets to help keep them under control. Our booklet Keeping ponds and aquaria without harmful invasive plants  profiles 36 plants you can try, whilst Flora Locale  provides lists of suppliers of native plants.

Some retailers sell non-native plants with a ‘Buy British’ label because the plant has been cultivated in Britain, but this is not the same thing as a native plant (which is one that historically occurs naturally in the wild in Britain). If in doubt, ask your retailer if the plant is native. You can find a list of plants native to your area from the Natural History Museum’s Postcode Plants Database.

Many non-native pond plants are invasive and as a result can cause problems for the fish, amphibians and invertebrates that live there, as well as for you! Check our list of plants to avoid.

Unfortunately, plants are often labelled poorly with a variety of names used so have a look at our mini guide What’s in your pot? before setting out. And double check with your retailer before buying.

Native plants, if left completely unattended, will also crowd out your pond over time, so whatever plants you choose you should expect to have to manage your pond by weeding/thinning at regular intervals. Be sure to dispose of all unwanted plant matter carefully by composting or by using your local green waste recycling. Causing non-native pond plants to grow in the wild through their inappropriate disposal could land you a costly fine.

test rans.

Belvoir & Plantlife

We think Britain’s wild flora is well worth conserving and are delighted that Belvoir Fruit Farms agree.

Plantlife and Belvoir are teaming up to encourage people to create their own lovely ‘English wild flower meadow’ at home. Belvoir will be giving away free  packets of UK sourced wild flower seeds to visitors to their stands at the various shows they’ll be attending this summer and also by request from their website.

How to grow your own meadow

97% of the UK’s flower-rich meadows have been destroyed since the 1940s.

It is Plantlife’s dream that we can reverse this decline and restore some of the beautiful habitats that were once common to our grandparent’s generation. Whilst we don’t recommend you go out and plant flowers in the wild you can still do your bit in your own garden!

Click on the link below for a simple guide to growing your own patch of wildflower meadow:

• How to grow your very own wildflower meadow
  

You can find more tips on growing wildflowers in our Grow Wild section:

• Visit Grow Wild section
  

Helping the cause

"We are grateful to Belvoir Fruit Farms and to all its customers for helping to raise funds to support our conservation work saving Britain’s threatened species and landscapes."

Victoria Chester, Plantlife CEO

To help the Plantlife cause, Belvoir has committed to donating 50p to the charity for every person who signs up to the Belvoir newsletter. There will be a running total on the website to show how much money has been raised for the charity as the summer progresses.

Click the link below to sign up:

• Click here to sign up to the Belvoir newsletter page

When buying wildflower seeds only choose seeds sourced in the UK and only plant them in your garden – do not sow them in the wild. Thank you!

IPA publications and reports

Plantlife has produced a range of publications on Important Plant Areas over the years.

Click here for an archive of what’s available online. Click on the publication you are interested in and you’ll be taken to a page where you can download a PDF. If you can’t find what you’re looking for please email us - although most are now out of print, we’ll be happy to see if we have any original copies left.

• Important Plant Area publications available for download

Asia and the Pacific

Summary information on IPA projects in Europe are available by clicking on the appropriate country in the menu to the left.

As well as projects specific to individual nations we are also involved in two regional projects. Find out more by following the links below:

• The Himalaya
• South-east Asia

Americas and the Atlantic

Summary information on IPA projects in the Americas and the Atlantic are available by clicking on the appropriate country in the menu to the left.

Africa and Western Asia

Summary information on IPA projects in Europe are available by clicking on the appropriate country in the menu to the left.

As well as projects specific to individual nations we are also involved in two regional projects. Find out more by following the links below:

• Arabian peninsular
• North Africa and Middle East

Related initiatives

Arnica Conservation Romania

This project developed by WWF and the Apuseni Mountains community groups in Romania and originally funded by the DARWIN Initiative, was set up to develop a model for the sustainable production and trade of Arnica montana resulting in benefits for biodiversity and livelihoods which could be used to develop models for other medicinal plants and their habitats. The project. The project succeeded in developing and implementing arnica management plans, training harvesters and farmers in sustainable harvesting and drying techniques, agreements with companies on sustainable sourcing, and raising awareness of the benefits of sustainable harvesting among harvesters, farmers, government agencies, companies and academics.

FAIRWILD

The FairWild Foundation was established in 2008 to promote the sustainable use of wild collected ingredients, with a fair deal for all those involved throughout the supply chain. Wild plant as used as ingredients for food, cosmetics, medicinal products are under threat from major ecological and social challenges. The FairWild Foundation promotes the FairWild Standard and a certification system for sustainable management and collection of wild plants, which is based in part on the International Standard for Sustainable Wild Collection of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants (ISSC-MAP).

IUCN Medicinal Plants Specialist Group

This is a global network of specialists from within IUCN (the World Conservation Union) and from organisations across the world, which exists to increase global awareness of conservation threats to medicinal plants and to promote sustainable use and conservation action.

ISSC-MAP- International Standard for the Sustainable Wild Collection of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants

This standard was developed through a process of consultation by The German Federal Agency for Nature Protection (BfN),  IUCN Medicinal Plants Specialist Group, TRAFFIC and WWF . The current standard is available to be used by collectors, resource managers, and companies now being used by the FairWild Foundation as part of its standard and certification system.

Valuing biodiversity in Important Plant Areas (IPAs)

IPAs and TEEB (The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity)

The TEEB initiative was set up to ensure that biodiversity and ecosystems are properly ‘valued’ and not ignored within conventional economics and in planning decisions. They provide case studies and examples aimed at a range of audiences (policy makers, business, civil society) which demonstrate the economic value of conserving and restoring species and habitats and the many unrecognised ecosystem services which they provide, including carbon capture, flooding control, provision of drinking water and clean air.

We hope to use the TEEB methodology to demonstrate the many undervalued ecosystem services and undervalued economic importance of IPAs to promote their conservation and restoration.

IPAs & Rural Development

Conservation of IPAs starts with the communities that live, work and manage the land where the IPAs are found. Providing effective models of sustainable rural development that provides benefit to both local livelihoods and plant conservation will be at the heart of any efforts to conserve and restore these areas.

Initiatives such as the High Nature Value (Farmland) programme to identify and preserve areas of biodiversity rich farmland has the potential to improve rural livelihoods and wild plant conservation if funds are targeted effectively. A truly reformed EU Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) also has the potential to provide support to local communities who farm with biodiversity friendly methods, but as always the implementation on the ground will be key to success.

Plantlife International will work with partners in selected regions to develop sustainable models of improving local livelihoods and to promote successful examples that are being implemented in other regions, such as the ADEPT programme and the Arnica montana Programme in Romania, and the promotion of standards such as the FairWild Standard for harvesting of wild products. 

Kure Mountains IPA, Turkey

Kure Mountain Important Plant Area on Turkey’s Black Sea Coast is one of the most important sites for wild plants and habitats in the world.

It has been identified as an Important Plant Area (IPA) by a group of national and international scientists under the CBD Global Strategy for Plant Conservation and also as a Key Biodiversity Area.  It was designated as a national park in 2000.

The site has is one of the world’s best examples of Black Sea humid karstic (limestone) forest ecosystems. The Devrekani River Valley which divides the IPA in two contains a unique combination of Mediterranean shrublands and Black Sea forests supporting a wealth of plant diversity. The Küre Mountain also hosts 29 endemic plant taxa, only found within Turkey, such as the threatened Delphinium ilgazense and Silene paphlagonica.

One species, Ornithogalum kuereanum occurs in these mountains and nowhere else in the world. Fourteen of these endemic species are also classified as threatened in the Turkish National Red List including the critically endangered Astragalus kastamonuensis. Such vast plant diversity in turn supports other important wildlife for example the globally near-threatened semi-collared flycatcher Ficedula semitoquata and the bearded vulture Gypaetus barbatus.

This unique area is threatened by planned Hydroelectric Power (HEP) projects, specifically the Loç Region, the Devrekani River Valley and the Küre Mountains National Park. The construction association with the proposed HEP project and the diversion of 90% of the waters of the Devrekani River will irreparably damage the irreplaceable biodiversity of this region. If the projects are allowed to continue a unique piece of Turkish natural heritage will be lost forever.

Plantlife International has written to the Turkish Minister of Environment and Forests to request that that the project is cancelled.

International wild plants

Important Plant Areas (IPAs)

Important Plant Areas (or IPAs) are exactly that: areas that have been singled out as being of botanical importance. The Global Strategy for Plant Conservation sets the overall target of protecting 50% of the world’s most important areas for plant diversity by 2010. To contribute to the achievement of this ambitious target, Plantlife supports and carries out IPA projects across the globe. See the International Wild Plants section for more details.

Our Medicinal Plants and Livelihoods Programme

Wild plants aren’t just worth saving for themselves: many people around the world are dependent on products from them, both for subsistence and income. Launched in January 2005, this programme has initially been concentrating on a Medicinal Plants Conservation Initiative. Around 50,000 plant species are being used medicinally, and the use of medicinal plants is increasing.  See the International Wild Plants section for more details.

Planta Europa

Planta Europa is the network of organisations working for plant conservation in Europe, of which Plantlife International is a member. To date, the Planta Europa network has more than 60 member organisations from 34 countries. Click here to visit the Planta Europa site.

Is it illegal to pick common wildflowers in the countryside?

It is not normally an offence to pick the ‘Four Fs’ – fruit, foliage, fungi or flowers – if the plants are growing wild and it is for your personal use and not for sale. Many rare or endangered plants – such as adder’s tongue and lady’s slipper orchid - are protected under the 1981 Wildlife and Countryside Act, so picking these is against the law (although, being rare and endangered, you’re unlikely to happen across them by accident!)

Picking a flower is one thing. Uprooting it entirely is another. The law strictly prohibits removing a plant from the wild and you could risk arrest for doing so.

Make sure also that the flowers you are picking are in a wild location and not on council or otherwise protected land. Any flowers growing in, for example, council parks, town or village displays, roundabouts or roadside verges are off limits as are those in nature reserves and community gardens.

Is it helpful to sow packets of wildflower seeds? Or plant wild bulbs, etc?

In your own garden you can do what you like!  With loving care, many lovely wild flowers can flourish, and birds, butterflies and other animals can be encouraged too.

In the wild it is another story.  Most commercial packets of wildflower seeds, or wild bulbs etc, are collected from various countries abroad, often hundreds or thousands of miles away.  Some of the plants may not grow naturally in Britain at all, and others will be different varieties or strains that may be invasive or fail to thrive.  Many will interbreed with our own plants, and they may well dilute the local gene pool and end up destroying the local ones.  This has already happened with the native Daffodil, which is now so contaminated with cultivated or foreign ones that the truly wild ones have almost gone.  Similarly, the introduced Spanish bluebell has escaped from gardens so much that it may be spreading its genes into the native bluebells.

Some seedsmen supply wild flower seeds labelled ‘local provenance’ which means the seeds were collected in Britain from British plants.  These may be hard to find, but suppliers often advertise in conservation magazines, like the ‘Natural World’ from the County Wildlife Trusts.  These seeds are much less damaging.  Even so, if they are not already growing in the wild near you, they will probably not flourish, or even may not appear at all, if the place where they are scattered is not entirely suitable. 

If you want to enrich the wild flowers in a small area, it is much better to collect wild flower seeds from your local area. Click on the link below for more information:

• Growing wildflowers on a community site

I think I may have a rare plant growing in my local area - what should I do?

First, get a botanist to check the identification for you.  Many people think they have rare orchids that turn out to be common orchids (common spotted-orchid, bee orchid, pyramidal orchid are common across most of Britain), or even other plants entirely such as vetches or snapdragons. Ask your County Wildlife Trust, or other local wildlife group, for someone who knows about plants to come and have a look.  They will know who to tell if it really is special! Of course we want to cherish and enjoy all our wild flowers, but some need more looking after than others.

If you are already really sure you have the correct identification yourself, then tell the Vice-county Recorder, whose name and address you can find via the Botanical Society here.  He/she will need to know the name, how many plants, description of location as precise as possible (preferably with a grid ref of at least 6 figures), and the date you found it/them, and your name and address as finder.  You should get a reply if you send a stamped, self-addressed postcard, so you will know if your find is new, or already known, or other information.

How can I tell whether bluebells are native ones or Spanish ones?

The Spanish Bluebell, commonly grown in our gardens, is more vigorous than our native species and can crossbreed with the native to create a fertile hybrid.

This is a problem, as crossbreeding dilutes the unique characteristics of our native Bluebell.

In a recent study, conducted by Plantlife volunteers across the UK, one in six broadleaved woodlands surveyed were found to contain the hybrid or Spanish Bluebell.

Noticeable differences between the two are as follows:

Native bluebells…

• have narrow leaves, usually about 1cm or 1.5cm (about half an inch) wide,
• have deep blue (sometimes white, rarely pink), narrow, tube-like flowers, with the very tips curled right back. 
• have flowers mostly on one side of the stem only, and distinctly drooping, or nodding, at the top
• have a distinct, sweetish scent
• Inside the flowers, the anthers with the pollen are usually cream.

Spanish bluebells…

• have broad leaves often 3cm (over an inch) wide
• have paler blue (quite often pink and white ones too), conical or bell-shaped flowers that have spread-out tips.
• have flowers all round the upright stem
• have almost no scent.
• Inside the flowers, the anthers with the pollen usually blue (although this may vary a little).

Hybrids between these two are very common, with a whole range of intermediate characters.  The hybrids are often abundant in gardens and in woods near to urban areas.

How can I learn to identify the wild flowers that grow round here?

Plantlife has some local events which may help, but not in every area of the country. Also try your local library for a list of organisations such as Natural History clubs, conservation groups, or local branches of your County Wildlife Trust. These groups will have walks and visits scattered through the year, of which some should concentrate on the plants.  Anyone can join! The Field Studies Council centres and botanic gardens (eg. Edinburgh or Cambridge) run courses focusing on identification of different types of plants – have a look online to find out what’s happening this year if you are interested in going on a course.

Invest in one or two of the easy-to-use flower guide books, especially ones like The Wild Flower Key by Frances Rose (pub Warne) or the Wild Flowers of Britain and Ireland by Blamey, Fitter and Fitter, (pub Tandem, 2003) or Collins Pocket Guide to Wild Flowers by Fitter, Fitter and Blamey (1996).  Choose a book, and take it with you when you go out with a group to help you learn.  You could practise on some weeds in the garden, whose names you know already, to get the idea of how the book works.  You may also have to learn some close observational skills; all the different parts of the plant (except the root – please do not dig it up!) must be examined!  If your eyes need help, get a small hand lens (10x is best).  You will develop a fascinating hobby that can last a lifetime.

Growing wildflowers on a community site

Our village/town has a village green/village pond/roadside verge/flower meadow/school wildlife area, but we cannot get nice things to grow, only weeds.  What can we do?

First, weeds are wild plants, and some of them are very pretty, or even need conserving!

Second, do not try to aim for lovely plants that do not grow in your area, as they are probably unsuited to the soil/local climate/other habitat factors.  And do not aim for annuals (like poppies) unless you intend to plough or rake clean the area every year.  If you are not sure what will do well in your area, try walking around to see!  Or look on the web at www.nhm.ac.uk and go to their Nature Online section, then British Natural History, then Postcode Plants on the menu; put in the postcode of the area you want, and up comes a list of plants that grow in that postcode area from their database.

Third, if the area is already rather overgrown, you will need extensive clearance work, and perhaps nutrient-stripping before you can plant anything else.  Nutrient-stripping is needed if the ground is very fertile; you can tell if the main weeds are nettle, bramble, broad-leaved dock and cow parsley, or similar big plants.  For a pond, green blanket weed (an algae) and nettles at the edge are what have to be tackled.  Let them grow big in spring, then cut the whole lot down in about June and remove the soft cuttings, the plants will re-grow, and you cut them all down again in September and remove again, repeat for four to seven years!  You can tell when you are winning when they do not re-grow so quickly!  A small pond might even need a full dredging, so you can start getting it the way you want.

Remember – never, ever, apply any kind of fertiliser (chemical or manure!) or herbicide!

Fourth, try to get seeds of perennial plants that grow in similar areas nearby, and collect seeds from them.  Clearly, this can be done throughout the summer and early autumn, when the plants you want have ripe seeds, and they need to be sown within about a week of collection.  You may have to cut down rough stuff and/or make some bare ground using a rake or hoe to sow the seeds, to get them started.  They may not flower the next year, but be patient. An easier way for an urban site, or in your own garden, could be to get plant plugs of wild flowers from a nursery or garden centre (preferably one that grows their own) and plant those for a quick fix result.  But we cannot recommend that in the country areas as these are not usually of local provenance and they might not stand the competition, or, worse, may turn out to be tougher than the natives and crowd them out.

Fifth, you will need to work every year to maintain the habitat.  This could be mowing once a year and removing the hay, or putting grazing animals on for the winter months. If you choose mowing, try to vary the time of year you do it, say May one year, July the next, September the next, or whatever; we find more flowers do better this way, over all, when the tough grasses are controlled by spring or summer cuts.  You may need hand-weeding of common ragwort or creeping thistle, or nettle, or whatever your particular local curse is.  A pond will need similar ongoing maintenance.

Remember that the truly natural landscape (before cave men started changing it all) was thick woodland over almost all of Britain, except the coast and high mountains in Wales and Scotland.  Clearings appeared after gales brought down trees, but there were no grazed pastures or open meadows!  Many of the annual plants we associate with ploughed fields, and a good number of other plants, and grazing animals like rabbits arrived in Britain later, and are not truly native.  This just reminds us that any habitat type other than woodland needs constant maintenance to keep it that way!

Sixth, ask your County Wildlife Trust for expert help when you have tried all the above and still failed!  They know your local area and what could succeed.

What alternatives can I use instead of peat?

There are several currently on the market, and they all use cheap waste materials instead of peat. It is important to read the labels - look for PEAT FREE.  Anything without that will contain peat.  If your favourite garden centre does not stock what you want, please ask them, if necessary again and again; meanwhile, take your custom elsewhere.

Peat alternatives are good as soil improvers, and there is no need to use up peat when other materials can be effectively dug in to improve soil structure. They are also good as a growing medium for seeds and cuttings. However, care needs to be taken as plants respond in varying ways to the different growing media. Watering is a key issue and different plants’ requirements may not be met by using the compost in the same way. Always check the contents and carefully read the instructions on the bag. 

What are the environmental implications of using peat?

Although peat is said to be a renewable resource, it does so only slowly. Peat ‘grows’ by only a millimetre a year. In contrast 3 million cubic metres of peat are consumed annually in the UK alone: 32% comes from the UK, 60% from Ireland and only 8% from Europe.

Looked at this way it shouldn’t be a surprise to say our current use is unsustainable. The peat is running out and in losing it we are also losing the plants, wildlife and ecosystems it supports. In fact, only 6% of the UK’s former peat habitats remain today.

Plantlife has joined a coalition of NGOs and businesses, including the RSPB, The Wildlife Trusts, Butterfly Conservation, the Irish Peatland Conservation Council, Buglife and Vital Earth to lobby the Government to introduce a levy in the March Budget on peat products bought from garden centres. You can find out more about this and how you can help on our ‘Protecting Peat’ campaign page.

• Click here to go to our Protecting Peat campaign page

Invasive Plants - what’s the problem and how can I help?

Invasive plants are often non-native species that - once escaped into the wild - devastate native habitats and the wildlfe they support.

The majority of the 70,000 or so non-native plants available to buy in Britain don’t actually pose a risk and are unlikely to cause environmental damage now or in future, so we don’t want to unnecessarily curb trade or the enjoyment of plants by gardeners and pond-keepers by suggesting non-native plants shouldn’t be used.

However, the impact that the few highly invasive non-native plants have on sites throughout Britain should not be ignored. You can find out more on our Invasive Plants campaign page:

• Click here to visit our Invasive Plants campaign page.

Do you have any resources for children or schools to get them involved with wild plants?

Yes. Our Wild About Plants team have a range of resources available to download for free on their website at www.wildaboutplants.org.uk.

• Click here to be taken to the Wild About Plants website.

The Rapid Risk Assessment screening process

How do you differentiate between a potential problem plant and one that’s likely to be of low risk?

The current method involves a time-consuming detailed risk assessment process. This makes it inappropriate to apply to large numbers of plants. So Plantlife has devised a ‘Rapid Risk Assessment’ screening process for quickly assigning a broad level of invasive threat to a non-native plant. We applied the process to almost 600 plants that are grown or sold here or are already present but not yet widespread in the wild and of these:

• 92 were ranked as 5-star ‘critical risk’ – we believes a more detailed risk assessment should be carried out as a matter of priority;

• 55 were ranked as 4-star ‘urgent risk’ – a more detailed risk assessment is highly recommended;

• 72 were ranked as 3-star ‘moderate risk’ – a more detailed risk assessment is recommended;

• 380 were ranked as ‘low risk’ - a more detailed risk assessment is not considered necessary at present.

By recommending a shortlist of plants for which the more detailed risk assessment is considered imperative and/or prudent and a list of plants for which such assessment is deemed currently unnecessary, the Rapid Risk Assessment screening process can help policy-makers to prioritise limited resources and focus on identifying plants most likely to prove problematic in future.

Plantlife’s new report Here today, here tomorrow? (download here) summarises the development of the Rapid Risk Assessment screening process and also illustrates some of the key botanical sites Plantlife considers to be under threat from invasive non-native plants.

Further development of the Rapid Risk Assessment scheme is required, particularly in relation to uncertainty and question weighting. We would be pleased to share our knowledge and experience with anyone who wishes to develop the screening process. We are aware that many people will have made observations of non-native plant behaviour in the wild or a landscape/horticultural context, either relating to the plants screened so far or other non-native plants sold or used in Britain. We would be grateful to receive any comments and observations in this respect both to add to the evidence base relating to specific taxa and to help evaluate the scheme by highlighting likely false positive and false negative results.

Please email: invasives@plantlife.org.uk with any such information or comments.

The development of the new rapid risk assessment is described in detail in a Natural England Commissioned Report NECR053 Horizon scanning for invasive non-native plants in Great Britain, available to download from Natural England.

All opinions expressed in the summary and detailed reports are those of Plantlife and do not necessarily reflect those of our funders.

Sustainable development policy

Sustainable development (meeting the needs of present generations without jeopardising the needs of future generations) is the cornerstone of all attempts to conserve biodiversity.

The way we use or over-use our natural resources determines the land cover in a large part of the world. The CBD Global and European Strategies for Plant Conservation specifically include targets on sustainable use of plant products and plant conservation in production lands, however these are the targets with the least available data and the least reported progress. This is the area where plant conservation must move away from its traditional territory of endangered species and protected areas and take on the challenge of raising awareness of how the ways we shop and live our lives affect the natural world and the more sustainable alternatives that exist.

EU Sustainable Development Strategy

The EU Sustainable Development Policy has 7 priority challenges: climate change & clean energy; sustainable transport; sustainable consumption & production; conservation and management of natural resources, public health; social inclusion, demography & migration; global poverty and sustainable development. In addition each Member State has its own National Sustainable Development Strategy. There is still a long way to go in integrating this strategy across all the other policy areas of the EU which include sustainable procurement in EU initiatives, effective EIA and SEA assessments for EU funded projects, imports into the EU including biofuel imports discussed above, forestry policy and reform of the Common Agricultural Policy.

Climate change

Reducing the amount of carbon dioxide in our atmosphere to prevent further man-made climate change is one of the most pressing concerns of our age. However plant conservation has much to offer in terms of value for money efforts to reducing CO2 and mitigating the effects of climate change.

Plants absorb CO2 for free, conservation and restoration of wetland and coastal ecosystems will help reduce the impact of extreme weather events, and forests, peatlands, and grasslands lock up CO2 and help to prevent soil erosion. All of these measures are most cost effective than man-made coastal and riverine defences or man-made carbon-capture programmes, and must form part of the suite of responses to climate change adaptation.

However there is a real danger than climate changes measures such as afforestation programmes and the growing of biofuels will have a negative affect on plant diversity across the world. The climate change debate must not be allowed to overshadow the loss of species diversity and ecosystem degradation. This would simply replace one problem with another.

Poorly implemented afforestation programmes threaten to introduce invasive species or to destroy other habitats (grasslands, heathlands and peatlands) in an attempt to grow more trees. National and regional afforestation programmes must be carried out within a transparent strategy that includes protection of biodiversity.

The growing of biofuels is also a major area of concern for plant conservation and social justice, particularly the indirect land use change (deforestation to make way for biofuel crops, the replacement of food crops) and the potential spread of invasive species.  The growing demand for biofuels threatens to destroy many important habitats, for example South East Asian hardwood forests cut down to make way for palm oil plantations, or the threat to peatlands and peat forests from palm oil documented by Wetlands International.

EU Climate Change Policy and the Renewable Energy Directive

Whilst we recognise the commitment that the EU has made to reduce its carbon emissions by 2020, there needs to be greater integration of climate change policy with biodiversity policy to develop sustainable, cost effective solutions and to prevent perverse incentives such as the current biofuels target in the Renewable Energy Directive which threatens to destroy crucial habitats without bringing about a net reduction in carbon dioxide levels. The sustainability criteria for EU biofuels must be transparent, stringent and effectively implemented and scrutinised. 

Invasive species

Invasive plant and fungi species cost billions in eradication programmes each year and are a direct and increasing threat to the diversity of plant species across Europe.

Many invasive species are spread through trade and garden plants and any attempts to halt their spread must tackle this issue through ban on sale of known invasives, and effective and rapid assessment of new trade species for their invasive threat level. The problem of invasives is a truly European one which does not respect national boundaries, and solutions must include Europe wide early warning systems, effective legislation on trade and targeted information and eradication programmes.

The EU is currently consulting on a Strategy for Invasive Species and the measures that it should contain. Plantlife International and the Planta Europa Network has responded to the European Commission and suggested that a new directive is needed that will take account of the need for an effective early warning system, legally enforced trade bans, as well as communication and eradication programmes. The EU has also funded the DAISIE project which provides a first port of call for information on invasive species and experts across Europe.

The Council of Europe through the Bern Convention developed the first pan-European Strategy for Invasive Alien Species in 2003, and has also coordinated a European Code of Conduct for Horticulture and Invasive Alien Species (2008). For more information click here.

Water & marine issues

There are to key areas of policy regarding water and marine issues in Europe:

The EU Water Framework Directive

This has provided a powerful framework that compels member states to ensure good ecological condition for all rivers, lakes and coastal water by 2015, including the development of River Basin Management Plans.

The potential for conserving and restoring key habitats for wild plants and algae is immense but as with all legislation the benefits for wild plants and their habitats will depend on how the law is implemented on the ground.

The EU Marine Strategy Framework Directive

This compels EU member states to ensure good ecological status of marine waters by 2020 in cooperation with other member states within marine regions. This is to be achieved through assessment of ecological status by 2012, development of marine strategies, and the development of marine protected areas. Projects such as the UK’s Important Plant Areas for Algae provide essential data for making sure all available ecological data is considered.

Forestry and plant conservation in Europe

Forest policy across Europe is mainly based at the national level. There is an EU Forestry Strategy, but no binding forestry legislation at the European level, although discussions are underway on the possibility of this route.

The Important Plant Areas (IPA) programme in 11 countries across Europe found that poor forestry practices (intensified forest management, deforestation and afforestation) was the single most widespread threat to IPAs, affecting 47% of sites.

Old growth or ‘virgin’ forests are particularly important for plant, fungi, lichen and bryophyte conservation but they form a tiny proportion of overall forest cover in Europe. These remaining areas need to be targeted urgently for increased protection. Afforestation of other habitats, such as grassland and heath, is also a key threat which looks set to increase if climate change targets are applied without thought to wider biodiversity concerns.

Forest Europe

Formerly the Ministerial Conference on the Protection of Forests in Europe is a forum for the forestry ministers from 46 European countries and observer organisations which sets guidelines and standards for sustainable forest management and protection. It is involved in discussions on the potential for legally binding European forestry policy.

Agriculture & plant conservation in Europe

Almost half of Europe’s landscape is farmed.

Farming methods are one of the most important routes towards conserving or destroying Europe’s diversity of plant species. The rapid and widespread decline of arable plant species under intensive farming methods is a major conservation concern for wild plants and all the birds and insects which they support. The abandonment or conversion of grassland areas is one of the most pressing threats to the diversity of wild plants in Europe.

A large proportion of Europe’s wild plants and up to 75% of butterfly species rely on extensively managed grassland areas for their survival. Tackling these issues within the reformed EU Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) and through initiatives like the pan-European High Nature Value (HNV) Farmland programmes will be a key arena where the EU and European nations succeed or fail in their target to halt biodiversity loss.

EU CAP Reform

There is widespread recognition that the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) in its current form has done much to increase biodiversity loss across Europe. Many organisations are currently campaigning to see a truly reformed CAP (2013-2020) which conserves biodiversity and the ecosystem services it provides, supports rural communities to maintain High Nature Value Farmland and improve the richness of other farmland, and provides healthy landscapes for all. 

High Nature Value HNV Farmland

Several initiatives are underway to map areas of biodiversity rich farmland, mainly in more traditional, extensive agricultural systems in pockets across Europe, and to target resources towards supporting communities that farm these areas. Plantlife International has signed up to an NGO proposal outlining a fundamental reorganisation in agricultural subsidies that will support High Nature Value Farming. Click here for more details.

Biodiversity policies and strategies

Plantlife International supports the efforts by the European Commission, EU Member States and the Council of Europe to conserve biodiversity, by sharing plant based data from Important Plant Areas (IPA) projects.

We believe that given adequate financial support and capacity the Natura 2000 network and the Emerald Network have the potential to conserve and restore species diversity and support efforts to mitigate the effects of climate change.

The main European Union and pan-European policy structures directly aimed at biodiversity conservation are described below.

Pan Europe

The Bern Convention & the Emerald Network: Adopted in Bern Switzerland (1979), this treaty covers the natural heritage of the European continent and extends to some states of North Africa. Its aim is to conserve wild flora and fauna in their natural habitats, and key sites are identified under the Emerald network.

Environment for Europe Process: This is a partnership of member states of all European countries, international organisations and NGOs. The Secretariat is held by the UN Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE). There have been six conferences (Dobris 1991, Lucerne 1993, Sofia 1995, Aarhus 1998, Kiev 2003, Belgrade 2007) and several pan European conservation initiatives including: the Pan European Biological and Landscape Diversity Strategy (PEBLDS), the Pan European Ecological Network (PEEN), the identification and conservation of High Nature Value Farmland across Europe, and the Aarhus Convention on public access to environmental information and justice, and participation in environmental decision making.

The European Union

EU Biodiversity Strategy: As signatory to the CBD the European Union has set itself targets to tackle biodiversity loss. The EU admitted that the 2010 target to halt biodiversity loss had not been achieved and cites poor implementation of legal measures, poor integration with other EU sectors, inadequate funding, insufficient data, and poor communication as reasons for failure. However although the target was not achieved many important projects and frameworks were implemented under this strategy and the EU has renewed its commitment to biodiversity and set itself a more ambitious target for 2020 which includes restoring degraded habitats.
EU Biodiversity post 2010 target - ‘halting the loss of biodiversity and the degradation of ecosystem services in the EU by 2020, and restoring them in so far as feasible, while stepping up the EU contribution to averting global biodiversity loss’

EU Birds and Habitats Directives& Natura 2000 Network: As part of its biodiversity strategy the EU has developed binding legal instruments which include the Birds and Habitats Directive (a list of species and habitats which must be conserved) and a network of sites across Europe (the Natura 2000 Network) to conserve them. The Directives and the Natura 2000 network have great potential for conservation and restoration of species and habitats and provision of ecosystem services, but sufficient funds must be committed by the EU and member states to achieve this.

First Steps: get to know your wild flowers

Would you like to find out more about wildflowers, but are not sure how to start looking?

Plantlife Scotland has created a series of free handy cards, highlighting 14 familiar habitats and some of the typical plants that can be found in them. Discover and explore different places and see what’s growing there. It’s great as a family activity or with a small group of friends, or just out for a wander by yourself.

Download a card by clicking a name below:

• Arable
• Bogs
• Broadleaved woodland
• Coasts
• Conifer woodland
• Grassland
• Heathland
• Hedgerows
• Lochs & ponds
• Marshes
• Mountains
• Road verges
• Rocky outcrops
• Walls

We will be running a series of events this spring and summer for people to come along and try out the cards for themselves and tick off what they find (keep an eye on our Activities page for dates and locations).

Frequently asked questions

The following are some of the most common questions we get asked about wild plants and our work.

Click on any of the queries below to be taken to a page with relevant information and/or links. If you have a question that’s not covered on this page, please contact us at enquiries@plantlife.org.uk .

Growing wild plants and gardening

• Is it helpful to sow packets of wildflower seeds in the grass/hedgerows/village green/in my own garden?  Or plant wild bulbs etc?

• Our village/town has a village green/village pond/roadside verge/flower meadow/school wildlife area, but we cannot get nice things to grow, only weeds.  What can we do?

• What alternatives can I use instead of peat?

• What are the environmental implications of using peat?

• Which plants should I use when creating a pond?

Things to do

• Do you have any resources for children or schools to get them involved with wild plants?

• How can I identify wild plants in my area?

• How can I volunteer with or otherwise help Plantlife?

Wild plants and conservation

• I think I may have a rare plant growing in my local area - what should I do?

• How can I tell whether bluebells are native ones or Spanish ones?

• Invasive Plants - what’s the problem and how can I help?

• Is it helpful to sow packets of wildflower seeds in the grass/hedgerows/village green/in my own garden?  Or plant wild bulbs etc?

Wild plants and the law

• Is it illegal to pick common wildflowers in the countryside?

• Invasive Plants - what’s the problem and how can I help?

Valentine’s Day Quiz

Answers:

1. Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet

2. Emily Brontë

3. Shakespeare, Sonnet 130

4. Robbie Burns

< Back

County Flowers

A celebration of our native flora

Wild flowers are a fundamental part of our local culture and history, and one that we should celebrate, cherish and protect. But never before have our wild flowers been under greater threat.

It is estimated that, each county on average loses one wild flower species every two years.

To highlight our wild flower heritage, Plantlife launched its County Flowers campaign in 2002, asking members of the public to nominate and vote for a wild flower emblem for their county.

The result was a remarkable list that shows the huge range of floral diversity to be found in the UK countryside.

From the fritillary, a spectacular emblem of spring, to Christmas favourite mistletoe; from the vivid red poppy to the dandy wild daffodil; these are the flowers that light up our native woods and chalk downs, our sea-cliffs and moorlands.

To find out which is your County Flower, follow one of the links below:

• England: Visit our Regions and Nations page, click on the relevant region and choose from the list of counties.
• Isle of Man: Click here.
• Northern Ireland: Click here.
• Scotland: Click here.
• Wales: Click here.

Invasive plants causing problems in the UK

Below are listed around half of the plants that Plantlife consider to be invasive in Britain at the moment.

Click on each for full details.

• Cotoneaster species
  Cotoneaster
• Curly Waterweed
  Lagarosiphon major (AKA Elodea densa)
• Evergreen oak (holm oak)
  Quercus ilex
• False-acacia
  Robinia pseudoacacia
• Floating pennywort
  Hydrocotyle ranunculoides
• Giant hogweed
  Heracleum mantegazzianum
• Himalayan knotweed
  Persicaria wallichii
• Indian (Himalayan) balsam
  Impatiens glandulifera
• Japanese knotweed
  Fallopia japonica
• Large-flowered waterweed
  Egeria densa
• New Zealand pigmyweed (Australian swamp-stonecrop)
  Crassula helmsii
• Parrot’s-feather
  Myriophyllum aquaticum
• Pickerel weed
  Pontederia cordata
• Pirri-pirri-bur
  Acaena novae-zelandiae
• Rhododendron
  Rhododendron ponticum
• Shallon
  Gaultheria shallon
• Skunk-cabbage (Asian and American)
  Lysichiton americanus and Lysichiton camtschatcensis
• Tree of heaven
  Ailanthus altissima
• Turkey oak
  Quercus cerris
• Water primroses
  Ludwigia grandiflora, Ludwigia peploides, Ludwigia uruguayensis

For a full list of plants about which we are concerned, download the PDF ‘Invasive plants and the law’ by clicking here.

Companies supporting Plantlife

Thank you to the following companies who are currently supporting Plantlife:

Corporate Members

Andante Travels

Enchanted Plants

Other companies that support our work:

Belvoir Fruit Farms, Anglian Water.

The money raised from our business supporters goes directly towards protecting our wildflowers and plants and enables us to do more vital conservation work.

How to grow your own mistletoe

The decline in old apple orchards is threatening the quantity of mistletoe in Britain – but its fondness for apple trees and gardens means that you can do your bit to help! 

In the wild, seeds are spread by birds, mainly Mistle Thrushes and Blackcaps, but planting by hand is easy. Mistletoe expert Jonathan Briggs outlines how:

1. You need fresh berries – when you buy it at Christmas, keep some sprigs outside so the berries don’t dry out.  Germination is best from February, so keep the sprigs cool until then, or get fresh supplies.  Each berry contains one seed, set in a gluey white jelly. 

2. Choose a suitable host (apple trees are ideal, but most rosaceous shrubs will do), and pick a young branch two to four cm in diameter.  Squeeze seeds from as many berries as you can (mortality can be high) and stick them, using their own glue, to the underside of the branch.  Label the branch, and wait …

3. Growth in the first two or three years is slow, and you’ll need that label to remind you where to look, as seedlings are tiny (10mm max).  But, if successful, you’ll have recognisable mistletoe shoots from year three onwards and you may need to control it later on as it grows fast once established.  And remember that because male and female flowers grow on separate plants you will need at least two plants for berries to appear.

Related content:

• Pictures of our Joans Hill farm reserve in the recent snow.
• Donate to Plantlife.

Interested in growing other wild plants?

Become a member of Plantlife and not only will you help save our natural heritage, but also be able to read our exclusive ‘Grow Wild’ article in our members’ magazine, three times a year.

Membership starts from as little as £2 a month - click here for more.

Payroll Giving

Payroll Giving is not only an extremely valuable form of funding for Plantlife, providing regular income which will allow our work to continue and grow, but it is also an efficient way to give.

Payroll Giving donations are deducted straight from your salary before tax which means that your donations to Plantlife will be worth an extra 20%.  Each £1.00 you give will only cost you 80p, and if you’re a higher rate tax payer it will only cost you 60p.

Offering Payroll Giving to your employees is a really easy way to show your commitment to the causes your employees and the public care about. Quality Mark Awards which demonstrate your commitment to charitable giving are available for organisations who promote Payroll Giving.

We would very much appreciate it if you would encourage your employees to give to Plantlife through your company’s Payroll Giving scheme.

More information for both employers and employees on Payroll Giving and how to set it up can be found on the Payroll Giving Centre website.

Opportunities to work with Plantlife

There are a number of different ways in which your business, big, medium or small, can help support native wild flowers and plants:

- Corporate Membership

This is a highly valuable form of support for Plantlife’s efforts to save native wild plant species. Find out more about our two levels of Corporate Membership and the benefits they offer by downloading the leaflet below.

• Click here to download Corporate Membership leaflet

- Supporting one of our critical conservation projects or a Plantlife event

If you are interested in supporting a specific project or area of our work, either financially or in-kind, then we would be happy to discuss how we might work together in this regard.

- Through the development of a long-term partnership

Plantlife is looking to develop a small number of long-term partnerships with business that will lead to a substantial level of support for the work we do.  We would welcome the opportunity to explore the potential of such a relationship with your business.

- Cause-related marketing

You can support Plantlife and receive a number of benefits for your company through a cause-related marketing relationship. This type of support could allow your company to reach the ever expanding market of environmentally aware customers and boost the sales of products associated with Plantlife.

Examples of this type of support includes our relationship with Enchanted Plants where by a donation is made to Plantlife for every pack of the specific product sold.

-  Payroll Giving

Anybody who pays UK income tax can give regularly, easily and on a tax free basis through Payroll Giving.

• Click here to find out more about Payroll Giving

-  1% for the Planet

Join the 1% for the Planet initiative - companies involved contribute 1% of sales to environmental groups such as Plantlife and embrace the notion that the sustainability of the natural environment is fundamental to the sustainability of business.

• Click here to find out more about 1% for the Planet

-  Spread the Word

Plantlife is a membership charity and we are absolutely dependent on our members to ensure the long term sustainability of our work. You could help promote our cause either through your employees or via any outlets you may have where you could display or distribute Plantlife membership leaflets.

Please call 01722 342 730 or email: lisa.costley@plantlife.org.uk if you would like to find out more about how your company could work with Plantlife

Plantlife shop

This Christmas why not send a card or give a gift that helps support a good cause?

All profits from our merchandise help support our conservation work, so when you buy a Plantlife gift you’re not just spreading Christmas cheer to friends and family but also to our plants and the wildlife they support.

In addition to the gift ideas below, why not also consider:

• Plantlife gift membership: A gift that keeps on giving throughout the year, as every member helps to boost Plantlife’s conservation programmes. Membership from £2 per month, or £24 per year. Click here to find out more.

• Adopt a Flower: Introduce someone you love to wild flowers and make a difference to Plantlife’s work conserving wild flowers and their habitats for just £20 per year. Click here to find out more.

For a closer look at our Christmas cards, calendar and jute bag, please click here.

Recycle and save wild plants

Do you have an old mobile phone? Or an inkjet printer with cartridges to replace? If so don’t chuck them out - recycle them with Each One Counts and you can help support our work as well as doing your bit for the environment.

Each One Counts is the charity inkjet cartridge & mobile phone recycling scheme.  They provide a recycling and fundraising service for Plantlife.  Plantlife supporters can simply post unwanted items free of charge and Each One Counts pay Plantlife for items that can be reused.

Plantlife will receive donations of £1 for recyclable & reusable inkjet cartridges & £3 for recyclable & reusable mobile phones

It is very easy to start recycling and fundraising for Plantlife you simply need to visit www.eachonecounts.co.uk/plantlife sign up and follow a few simple steps:

1.  CHECK – check to ensure items are recyclable. If they are, order the freepost recycling bags (if necessary they can also take requests via email or over the phone)
2.  REGISTER – on receipt of the bag register the bag’s unique code on the website
3.  POST – send the freepost bag!

Bags need to be registered because -

• It links you with Plantlife, insuring your donation goes towards our work to save wild plants
• It allows an audit trail for Gift Aid to be added
• It enters you into the weekly competition for £100 Halfords voucher

2010 Photo competition winners

This years Plantlife Photo Competition proved to be a resounding success with a record number of images being entered for inclusion in the 2011 Plantlife calendar.

This year’s theme was ‘A place for plants’. We were looking for stunning photos that showed wild plants and fungi in the wider environment.

The judges, including professional wildlife photographer Bob Gibbons, were faced with a wealth of entries and some difficult decisions. All agreed, however, that an image of a magpie inkcap in beech woodland by David Wain of Elworth, Staffordshire should be the overall winner.

“This picture has it all” said Bob Gibbons. “A good composition, lovely light, sharp throughout, and all with a strong sense of place, evocative of autumn in Britain.”

David will receive a free 20 x 16 inch Lambda print of his winning photo, donated by Salisbury Photo Centre and it will be used to represent the month of September in the 2011 Plantlife calendar. The calendar itself will be available for purchase from 11 October.

Have a look through all the winning entries by scrolling through the gallery below:

Wild plant landscapes under threat

A countryside without wild plants is unthinkable, and yet disturbingly many of our native species are losing ground to our modern ways of managing land and farming.

Conservation efforts over the past fifty years have resulted in a network of legally protected sites, but these aren’t necessarily working for wild plants. The government’s own figures indicate that flowering plants, ferns and fungi are at the bottom of the species protection league table, and that only around half of these plant populations are in a ‘favourable condition.’

Imminent public sector cuts could result in further losses to our wild plants. Although the Coalition Government has pledged to be the ‘greenest government ever’, the natural environment is at risk of bearing more than its fair share of cuts.

Plantlife has always been on the front line of the fight to protect wild plants in the wider landscape. We are now making a concerted effort to improve the fortunes of the most vulnerable species.

Speaking up for Important Plant Areas

Plantlife is tackling the problem both strategically and practically. In collaboration with our conservation partners we have identified whole landscapes which are the most important places for plants, called Important Plant Areas (IPAs). The 155 IPAs in the UK vary in size from the very large, such as the West Coast of Scotland, the Lake District and the New Forest, to sites such as Ranscombe Farm Reserve in Kent.

We need your help!

Please help us continue our wild plant conservation programmes in England, Scotland and Wales.

£10 could contribute to restoring a hectare of rare grassland
£30 could pay for a face-to-face meeting with a landowner to provide conservation advice
£50 could pay for the hire of machinery for targeted land management
£100 could pay for a volunteer training day

Please use the envelope provided if you feel you can donate something to Plantlife’s critical work. Thank you!

Plantlife in the national press

Click any of the titles below to view some of our recent appearances in the national press:

2011

Healthy woodlands ‘need quality not quantity’

BBC News, Friday 25 November 2011 - Coverage of the launch of our woodland report Forestry Recommissioned.

Return of ‘gin berry’ bushes to England

The Telegraph, Friday 18 November 2011 - Louise Gray on Plantlife’s work to save juniper in England.

Just the tonic for British gin

The Independent, Friday 18 November 2011 - Michael McCarthy on Plantlife’s work to save juniper in England.

Flower power

The Guardian, Wednesday 31 August 2011 - Andrew Byfield, wildflower expert at charity Plantlife, explains just how important wildflowers are to the British landscape.

Plantwatch: a sight for sore eyes

The Guardian, Wednesday 24 August2011 - Mention of our successful project with Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust, to bring meadow clary back to Box Farm Meadows in Gloucestershire.

World’s wild plant hotspots

Daily Express, Wednesday 1 June 2011 - Hotspots identified in a report by UK-based conservation group Plantlife, WWF and the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

The seaside ‘scurvy’ that’s a land lover now: Harsh winter helps salt-loving plant grow 100 miles from coast due to increased GRIT spreading

Daily Mail, Friday 15 April2011 -  Plantlife Species Recovery Officer Dominic Price on the appearance of Danish scurvygrass along British roadsides.

Bluebell explosion: Hot spell brings a premature burst of colour

Daily Mail, Friday 12 April2011 -  Plantlife Species Recovery Officer Dominic Price discusses dandelions. Similar article in The Guardian here.

Alien plant invaders threaten UK National Parks

BBC Earth, Tuesday 1 March 2011 -  Coverage from our invasive plant report. Also featured on Springwatch website here, Daily Mail here and Horticulture Week here.

Where the wild things are: Brecklands

The Independent, Tuesday 25 January 2011 - Tim Pankhurst - Plantlife’s Conservation Manager for the East of England - talks to the Independent about the area’s beauty, botanical importance and the work we are doing.

2010

Plans to dispose of nature reserves in chaos

The Independent, Monday 27 December 2010 - Michael McCarthy on the public land disposal issue, with mention of Plantlife.

Holly berries suggest harsh winter on the way

Daily Telegraph, Tuesday 16 November 2010 - Plantlife’s Species Recovery Officer, Dominic Price interviewed on how and why we’ve got a bumper crop of holly berries this year. Similar stories in Daily Mail here, Daily Express here and the Metro here.

‘Wave of conflict’ over national park housing

Herald Scotland, Friday 12 November2010 - Dr Deborah Long of Plantlife Scotland comments on plans for major housing schemes in the Cairngorms.

Meadow flower disappears from Welsh countryside

Wales Online, Wednesday 10 November 2010 - Plantlife Cymru reveal meadow clary has become extinct in Wales.

MPs should act on climate chaos

The Guardian, Saturday 6 November 2010 - Letter to the Guardian from Plantlife Chief Executive Victoria Chester and her counterparts in our fellow conservation organisations.

Is foraging fruit legal?

BBC News, Thursday 21 October2010 - An interview with Plantlife Lower Plants Officer, Ray Woods.

The challenge facing biodiversity

The Guardian, Thursday 21 October 2010 - Letter to the Guardian from Plantlife Chief Executive Victoria Chester and her counterparts in our fellow conservation organisations.

Should we learn to love weeds?

BBC News, Friday 15 October 2010 - Andy Byfield, Plantlife’s Landscape Conservation Manager, says ‘No’!

TV and radio (test)

TV and radio

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27th October 2010

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Click here to watch

27th October 2010

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National Press

Michael McCarthy: The rosy charms of the red helleborine
The Independent, Friday, 2 July 2010

Michael McCarthy: The rosy charms of the red helleborine
The Independent, Friday, 2 July 2010

TV and radio

27th October 2010

Click here to watch

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Case study: Rasuwa, Nepalese Himalaya

Allachy Project

Community-based conservation and sustainable use of potential medicinal plants in Rasuwa, Nepalese Himalaya

Grantee

Ethnobotanical Society of Nepal (ESON)

Project period

September 2006 to August 2007

Original aims

• To build capacity among the Tamang community (the third largest ethnic group in Nepal) for the sustainable use and conservation of medicinal plants.
• Undertake research to determine priority species from local perspectives, and to determine their distribution, abundance, uses and any conservation measures already in place.
• Augment the capacity of Community Forest Groups with respect to their abilities to monitor populations of the plants and develop sustainable harvesting plans.
• Act as the first stage of a longer programme of engagement by ESON with the community to promote the sustainable use and conservation of wild plants.
• To later include the promotion of cultivation for marketable species and the development of local health care services based on traditional medicine.

Project description

Langtang National Park, established in 1976 and with a surface area of 1710 km2, has a rich and unique flora and fauna. Reaching to the border between Nepal and China in the central Himalaya, the park, and its buffer zone in the northern part of Rasuwa District in central Nepal, represent a meeting point between the Indo-Malayan and Palearctic floristic realms. The Ministry of Forests, Department of Plant Resources and other research institutions have recorded more than 900 species of vascular plants (including 16 endemics) in and around the park. The park is rich in cultural diversity, with the Tamang and Yolmo people being the most numerous ethnic groups. Langtang National Park is a famous destination for trekkers and pilgrims. It is visited annually by a significant number of tourists from inside and outside the country. This high altitude national park is normally snow-covered for about six months of the year, providing limited opportunities for farming.

Given the complex topography, fragile landscape and infertile landscape, life for the Tamang community is becoming more and more vulnerable.

At higher altitudes, the people are entirely dependent on traditional medicine, based largely on plants, provided by local healers known here as Lama, Amchi, Jhakri and Baidya.

These healers prepare herbal formulations from medicinal plants collected in and around the park. Apart from this domestic use, medicinal plants are also collected for sale (this is mostly illegal). Species of medicinal plants available in this area include Aconitum spicatum, Acorus calamus, Bergenia ciliata, Dactylorhiza hatagirea, Nardostachys grandiflora, Neopicrorhiza scrophulariiflora, Paris polyphylla, Podophyllum hexandrum, Rheum australe, Swertia chirayita, Swertia multicaulis, Taxus wallichiana, Valeriana jatamansi and Zanthoxylum armatum.

Every year, large volumes of medicinal plants are collected unscientifically causing depletion of resources and degradation of habitats. Furthermore, indigenous knowledge on the uses of the plants is declining. This is especially so regarding the traditional formulations of local healers. Given this context, creating awareness about medicinal plants among the local people and building local capacity to list and assess these resources are considered to be important steps for achieving conservation of these valuable plants.

This project is intended to develop participatory, community-based, management of medicinal plants within the national park and its buffer zone. The project team will work with local mother groups, eco-clubs, the National Park Forest Management Committee and the Buffer Zone Management Committee to develop activities for the conservation of medicinal plants. These activities will include raising awareness about the importance of in-situ conservation of medicinal plants.

Hotspots for medicinal plants will be identified and quantitative assessments made of the amounts of the plants available for harvest. Medicinal plant monitoring groups will be established for the buffer zone and nearby community forests, and their members will be trained in resource monitoring and methods of sustainable harvesting.
Landscape view from Bridim village, Rasuwa

The project team is considering ways to help conserve local knowledge of the medicinal uses of the plants, especially for health care (local people and pilgrims). Initially, ESON will concentrate on training and helping traditional healers to organize their herbal formulations used for the most common health problems, such as altitude sickness, diarrhoea, headache and fever.

Working closely with the authorities of the national park, ESON is further considering the establishment of a medicinal plant information centre at the headquarters of the national park at Dhunche. This lies in the core area of the park (Khamjing) close to the famous pilgrim site of Gosainkunda. This information centre will be designed to disseminate awareness about the medicinal plants and their conservation. Visitors to the centre – communities, tourists and pilgrims – will be informed about the conservation hazards that can result from the collection of these plants, as well as providing information on relevant laws and regulations, including lists of species that are banned for collection.

• Click here to download the final project report.

Further information:

Ethnobotanical Society of Nepal (ESON)
107 Guchcha Marga (New Road), Kathmandu
Phone: ++977-1-6213406
Email: info@eson.org.np
Webpage: http://www.eson.org.np/

IPA Online Database

Managed by Plantlife International, the IPA Database provides free access to factsheets on all Important Plant Areas for plant lovers, specialists, decision makers or anyone who needs to know more about the most important sites for plants and their features.

The factsheets contain information on the sites, their plants and habitats, their protection status and threats, and any positive conservation action at the site. In addition you can search for particular threatened habitats, or query the extent of different threats to IPAs.

• Please click here to access the IPA online database.

Plants you can use in place of invasive non-natives

Much of the fun of growing plants comes from the reward of beautiful flowers, scents or foliage.

Your choice of plants will often also reflect what you want a plant to do – such as provide nectar to bees and butterflies, add a splash of colour to a pond margin, or provide a screen to separate one area of your garden from another.

We have produced three downloadable booklets that can help you choose plants that will do the ‘jobs’ of invasive non-native plants, but that are less likely to cause problems to the environment should they escape. Click on each title to download a free copy:

• Gardening without harmful invasive plants
• Keeping ponds and aquaria without harmful invasive plants
• Landscaping without harmful invasive plants

Native plants that we recommend must never be collected from the wild and should only be bought from reputable garden centres, where their origin as cultivated plants can be assured.

Volunteering in Scotland

Are you able to spare some time? Would you like to play an active role in conserving wild plants?

If so, why not become one of our Flora Guardians?

Flora Guardians are the eyes and ears of Plantlife Scotland. They are allocated sites close to where they live, where they can monitor a specific wild plant and its habitat on a regular basis. Their records provide us with an early warning system for any adverse changes in habitat quality and species populations. Full training will be given by Plantlife.

What plants do they monitor?

Flora Guardians typically monitor one of the endangered ‘Back from the Brink’ species.

They can also keep an eye on invasive non-native species on vulnerable sites. Invasive species monitoring concentrates on Rhododendron ponticum, Himalayan Balsam Impatiens glandulifera and Japanese Knotweed Fallopia japonica at the moment but will expand to other invasive non native species soon.

If you are interested in getting involved please click on the link below:

• Download Enrolement Form

Register for Wildflowers Count 2012

Welsh County Flowers

County Flowers

Find out what your County Flower is by clicking on your county below:

• Anglesey/Sir Fon
• Brecknockshire/Sir Frycheiniog
• Caernarvonshire/Sir Gaernarfon
• Cardiff/Caerdydd
• Cardiganshire/Ceredigion
• Carmarthenshire/Sir Gaerfyrddin
• Denbighshire/Sir Ddinbych
• Flintshire/Sir Fflint
• Glamorgan/Morgannwg
• Merioneth/Meirionnydd
• Monmouthshire/Sir Fynwy
• Montgomeryshire/Sir Drefaldwyn
• Pembrokeshire/Sir Benfro
• Radnorshire/Sir Faesyfed

Scottish County Flowers

County Flowers

Find out what your County Flower is by clicking on your county below:

• Aberdeenshire
• Angus/Forfarshire
• Argyll
• Ayrshire
• Banffshire
• Berwickshire
• Bute
• Caithness
• Clackmannanshire
• Cromarty
• Dumfriesshire
• Dunbartonshire/Dumbartonshire
• East Lothian/Haddingtonshire
• Edinburgh
• Fife
• Glasgow
• Inverness-shire
• Kincardineshire
• Kinross
• Kirkcudbright
• Lanarkshire
• Midlothian
• Moray
• Nairn
• Orkney
• Peeblesshire
• Perthshire
• Renfrewshire
• Ross
• Roxburghshire
• Selkirkshire
• Shetland
• Stirlingshire
• Sutherland
• West Lothian/Linlithgowshire
• Western Isles
• Wigtownshire

Policies and strategies

Plantlife works internationally with partners to promote the conservation of wild plants for the benefit of all.

Click any of the links in the menu on the left to see how we’re involved in implementing policies and strategies for plant conservation around the globe.

Partners

Plantlife International has been working with the following organisations in community based medicinal plant conservation projects:

• African Network of Ethnobiology, Ugandan Group
• Applied Environmental Research Organisation (AERF), India
• Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and Environment, India
• Ethnobotanical Society of Nepal, Nepal
• Foundation for the Revitalisation of Local Health Traditions (FRLHT), India
• Joint Ethnobotanical Research and Advocacy, Uganda
• Kenya Resource Centre for Indigenous Knowledge, National Museums of Kenya
• Kunming Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, China
• Ladakh Society for Traditional Medicines, India
• NOMAD Recherche et Soutien International, France
• Tooro Botanical Gardens, Uganda
• WWF Pakistan
• Yangzhou University, China

What you can do

Everyone can play an important role in the conservation of medicinal plants. All efforts - large and small - will contribute, provided that everyone pulls together in the same direction.

• Consumers, through giving attention to the sustainability of their herbal purchases.
• Community development workers, through ensuring that herbal resources are available for local treatments, income generation and cultural strengthening.
• Land and resource managers, through giving special attention to the conservation and sustainable use of these often neglected resources.
• Manufacturers of medicines and botanical products, through taking care that their botanical ingredients come from sustainable sources.
• Policy makers, through creating laws and regulations that favour the conservation of medicinal plants, and their equitable and sustainable use.
• Scientists, through working with communities to bring the benefits of science (combined with local knowledge) to devising solutions to issues of conservation and development.

Who will benefit?

• Those using local plants for treatments, knowing that these resources are still available.
• Everyone, through the availability from trade and industry of existing or novel medicines.
• Local communities, proud to retain plants that are part of their cultural heritage.
• Traditional doctors, who can continue to follow their professions.
• Those involved in the medicinal plant trade (such as collectors of wild plants, growers, traders and manufacturers), assured of a continuing income.
• Crop breeders and healthcare developers, through having access to a diversity of species and varieties of medicinal plants to develop new crops and medicines.
• And, of course, all those who care for conservation of the botanical diversity of the world as a whole, aware of its endangerment and the special responsibility of current generations for its survival.

What are their issues?

A focus on medicinal plants goes to the heart of some major questions of conservation and the use of biological diversity. Conservation and livelihoods are closely linked with medicinal plants. If conserved, medicinal plants will continue to be available to provide continuing benefits for healthcare, income and support of cultural heritage.

The conservation issues include:

•   How can species and their genetic diversity be conserved?
•   How can sustainability be assured in cases of both wild collection and cultivation?
•   How can people’s interest in medicinal plants serve as a motivator for conservation of habitats and their species?

The livelihood issues include:

•   How can the health benefits of medicinal plants best be made available at local, national and international levels?
•   How should the responsibilities, benefits and costs of managing and exploiting these resources be distributed?

Click here  for a review paper on the conservation and livelihood issues(pdf 240kb).

Click here for a discussion paper on resource assessment for sustainable harvesting of medicinal plants (pdf 240kb).

Click here for a review paper on sustainable harvesting (pdf 536KB). From Plant Talk No. 43, pages 32-35 (2006). Reproduced with permission.

What are medicinal plants?

Plants form the main ingredients of medicines in traditional systems of healing and have been the source of inspiration for several major pharmaceutical drugs. Roughly 50,000 species of higher plants (about 1 in 6 of all species) have been used medicinally. This represents by far the biggest use of the natural world in terms of number of species.

Most species are used only in folk medicine, traditional systems of formal medicine using relatively few (e.g. 500-600 commonly in Traditionally Chinese Medicine). Around 100 plant species have contributed significantly to modern drugs. The use of medicinal plants is increasing worldwide, related to the persistence and sometimes expansion of traditional medicine and a growing interest in herbal treatments.

The medicinal uses of plants grade into their uses for other purposes, as for food, cleaning, personal care and perfumery. Plants are used in medicine to maintain and augment health - physically, mentally and spiritually - as well as to treat specific conditions and ailments.

International networks and partners

Plantlife is working together with the following international networks:

Planta Europa

Planta Europa is the network of plant conservation organizations in Europe. It consists of governmental and non-governmental organizations working together to conserve wild plants and fungi in the habitats in which they grow. Planta Europa together with the Council of Europe developed the European Strategy for Plant Conservation (ESPC), a regional component of the CBD Global Strategy for Plant Conservation (GSPC). Plantlife International originally hosted the Secretariat of Planta Europa and now works to represent the views of its members on European policy in the European Habitats Forum in Brussels.

International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN)

The IUCN has made the identification and protection of Important Plant Areas a global priority through its Species Survival Commission’s Global Plant Conservation Programme and through objective 5.2 in the IUCN European Programme 2005-2008. This is also an objective of IUCN Parks for Life, and the European programme of IUCN World Commission of Protected Areas - Priority Project 6 (specifically article 4.3.5 on the identification and conservation of higher plant sites and article 4.3.6 on the identification of important sites for lower plants).

Global Partnership for Plant Conservation

Plantlife is a member of the Global Partnership for Plant Conservation. The Partnership is an initiative supported by a wide range of international and national agencies and organisations active in plant conservation. It provides an important framework to bring together a great diversity of organisations and initiatives to meet common objectives in plant conservation worldwide.

European Habitats Forum

Plantlife represents the Planta Europa network at the European Habitats Forum, a network of international non-governmental organizations involved in the conservation, rehabilitation and sustainable use of species, habitats and landscapes throughout Europe. The Forum promotes nature conservation and the sustainable use of natural resources in Europe and fosters communication between European nature conservation NGOs in order to increase the effectiveness of their programmes.

Botanic Gardens Conservation International (BGCI)

BGCI brings together the world’s botanic gardens forming a community working in partnership to achieve conservation and education goals.

IPA Coordinators Across the World

IPA identification projects have been completed or are being carried out in 66 countries across the world. Click here to download information on these countries and their IPA coordinators.

IPA projects around the world

IPA projects are developing all over the world.

Click on the country or region in the menu on the left for more information on IPA projects, the contact details of coordinators and other useful links.

A full list of co-ordinators can be downloaded here.

IPA criteria and methodology

The IPA criteria were developed over many years through a process of consultation and workshops.

The first IPA criteria were published in 2001 and the first IPA site selection manual published in 2002. Since then IPA projects have been carried out in many countries of Europe and other parts of the world. As a result of the experience of these projects, there has been further clarification or examples of how to deal with certain areas of IPA identification and selection. Two reports published in 2010 highlight IPA identification projects in 66 countries around the world and give specific examples of how the criteria have been applied in difference countries and with different data availability.

The identification of IPAs is based on three broad criteria:

• Threatened species
• Botanical richness
• Threatened habitats

These criteria have global applications:

• The site holds significant populations of species of global or regional concern
• The site has exceptionally rich flora in a regional context in relation to its biogeographic zone
• The site is an outstanding example of a habitat type of global or regional importance.

A site qualifies as an IPA if it fulfils one or more of these criteria.

For further information, download Identifying and Protecting the World’s Important Plant Areas.

Determining the specifics of criteria and developing a consistent approach at the regional level, e.g. regional threat lists or habitat lists, has been found to be very beneficial in several areas, for further information download the IPA Site Selection Manual for Europe and download the Southern Africa Criteria Workshop notes .

In the United Kingdom IPA selection criteria have also focused on the drawing of IPA boundaries, and the application of IPA criteria to different taxonomic or plant community groups, such as fungi, stoneworts, algae and arable plants.

In the Himalaya the selection criteria were based around medicinal plant groups (threatened medicinal plants, threatened medicinal plant habitats, and botanically rich medicinal plant habitats) as the dominant focus of community interest in plant conservation.

Important Plant Areas in international conservation

The Important Plant Area (IPA) programme is intended to inform and underpin existing international, regional and national conservation programmes and legislation. Ultimately we hope that IPAs will act as a benchmark for determining whether the strongest protection, under any existing legislation, is being afforded to the most important sites for plants.

IPAs contribute to the following Global and European agreements and initiatives:

• The Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD)
• The CBD Global Strategy for Plant Conservation
• The Pan European ‘Environment for Europe’ Process (PEBLDS, PEEN, High Nature Value Farmland, the Aarhus Convention)
• The RAMSAR Convention
• The European Strategy for Plant Conservation
• The EU Habitats & Species Directive, Natura 2000 network,
• Water Framework Initiative
• The Bern Convention & Emerald Network

Important Plant Areas

Important Plant Areas (or IPAs) are exactly that: areas of landscape that have been identified as being of the highest botanical importance.

In 2007, Plantlife announced the establishment of 150 IPAs across the UK, areas nominated for their internationally important wild plant populations. Since then we have been actively raising awareness of these ecologically important habitats and encouraging their long-term protection and improvement through the adoption of an ‘ecosystem-based’ conservation approach.

Our IPA programme is endorsed by national conservation organisations including the RSPB and the Wildlife Trusts, and also by UK government bodies including Natural England, Scottish Natural Heritage and the Countryside Council for Wales.

Click on any of the flags on the map below to find out more about the UK’s Important Plant Areas.

Other European policies

In addition to the European Strategy for Plant Conservation and the European Strategy for Plant Conservation, there are many other policies and strategies which target plant and nature conservation in Europe.

Find out about these by clicking on the bullet-pointed titles in the menu to the left.

Other international policies

In addition to the Global Strategy for Plant Conservation and the European Strategy for Plant Conservation, there are many other policies and strategies which target plant and nature conservation.

Carta di Siracusa

This is a declaration of the leaders G8 (2009) on the needs for agreement on biodiversity conservation, low carbon economies, actions on climate change, and measures to improve children’s health post 2010. Click here to download a copy.

Convention on Biological Diversity

The Convention on Biological Diversity is the main international convention for conserving biodiversity. It has three main strands: to conserve biological diversity; to use biological diversity in a sustainable fashion; and to share the benefits of biological diversity fairly and equitably. In addition there is the supplementary agreement of the CBD, the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety, to protect biodiversity from the potential risks from living modified organisms resulting from modern biotechnology, ie. genetically modified (GM) organisms. The CBD also adopted the Global Strategy for Plant Conservation (GSPC) which is currently being revised to run until 2020.

Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES)

The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species is the main international convention which governs the trade in endangered species, both plant and animal.

Intergovernmental Science Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES)

This international forum of science experts coordinated by the United Nations Environment Programme has recently been established and will act as an interface between science and policy for biodiversity and ecosystem services.

RAMSAR

The RAMSAR Convention on Wetlands of International Importance, was agreed in the Iranian city of Ramsar in 1971, and is the main international conservation agreement for protecting rapidly disappearing wetland habitats. It maintains a register and database of RAMSAR sites.

The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity (TEEB)

The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity is an international initiative aimed at highlighting the global economic benefits of biodiversity and the growing costs of biodiversity loss and degradation. Several TEEB reports, sponsored by the German Government, the European Commission and the UN, are available to download, including ‘The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity, an interim report’, TEEB and Climate Change report, TEEB for Policy Makers Report, TEEB for Business Report’, with others planned for 2010.

UN policies

Goal 7 of the UN Millennium Development Goals calls for environmental sustainability and the integration of the principles of sustainable development into the policies and programmes of individual countries. The loss of environmental resources, particularly plants, affects the poorest communities in the world most directly, and any attempts to eradicate poverty must engage with this issue. In addition the UN also coordinates activities under the Convention to Combat Desertification and the Framework Convention on Climate Change [link http://unfccc.int/2860.php]. The UN also coordinates activities under the Barcelona Convention for the Protection of the Mediterranean Sea from pollution.

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Grow Wild

Wild plants can make an attractive addition to any garden.

Below is a selection with tips on how to grow them - click on each to find out more.

To find out what plants we’d recommend using in place of non-native invasive species click here.

Surveys

Plantlife runs a variety of plant surveys, sometimes involving a single species, and sometimes looking out for a variety. The surveys are open to all the public and you do not need to be a botanist to take part.

Below are details of some of the surveys Plantlife is currently running. Click on each to find out more and how to get involved:

• Wildflowers Count
• Juniper survey
• Scottish sea loch egg-wrack survey

If you are considering taking part in a Plantlife survey, please take time to read our ‘Health and safety’ and ‘Access rights and responsibilities’ guidance first.

Publications

Plantlife has produced a range of publications over the years, from lichen ID guides to international reports.

Below is an archive of what’s available online. Click on the publication you are interested in and you’ll be taken to a page where you can download a PDF. If you can’t find what you’re looking for please email us - although most are now out of print, we’ll be happy to see if we have any original copies left.

News and press

For more information on any Plantlife news or publications, please contact the Plantlife Press Office on 01722 342757/01722 342739 or email our Senior Press Officer, Sue Nottingham at sue.nottingham@plantlife.org.uk.

For links to appearances by Plantlife and our employees in the national press, click here.

Regions and nations

Plantlife is active across the English regions and in Scotland and Wales.

Click on the map below to find out more about what Plantlife is doing in your area.

Nature reserves in Wales

Nature reserves in Scotland

Nature reserves

Plantlife has 23 nature reserves across the UK covering more than 4,500 acres (1,800 hectares) in total.

Scarce and important wild plant habitats are protected within the reserves including hay meadows, chalk grassland, limestone pavement, culm grassland and blanket bog.

At their best in the spring and summer, all of our nature reserves are open to the public. For further details simply click on the relevant location below.

Activities in Wales

Welcome to our current activities list for 2012.

Events are open to all and free of charge to Plantlife members (except where stated in the event details, for example where an entry fee is charged by another organisation).

You do not need to be an experienced botanist to take part in surveys and workdays, as full guidance is given. Everyone is welcome, however we do ask that children under the age of 16 are accompanied by an adult and that dogs are left at home.

For details on what to bring click here.

Activities in Scotland

Welcome to our current activities list for 2012.

Events are open to all and free of charge to Plantlife members (except where stated in the event details, for example where an entry fee is charged by another organisation).

You do not need to be an experienced botanist to take part in surveys and workdays, as full guidance is given. Everyone is welcome, however we do ask that children under the age of 16 are accompanied by an adult and that dogs are left at home. For more details of events in Scotland or to book, please email scotland@plantlife.org.uk or phone 01786 478509. For First Steps and Wildflowers Count events, please contact Davie Black at davie.black@plantlife.org.uk or phone 01786 469778.

For details on what to bring click here.

If you can spare some time and would like to play an active role in conserving wild plants, why not become a Flora Guardian? Click here for details.

Alternatively, you can take part in our annual wildflower survey: Wildflowers Count. Click here for details.

Activities

Welcome to our current activities list for 2012.

You do not need to be an experienced botanist to take part in surveys and workdays, as full guidance is given. Everyone is welcome, however we do ask that children under the age of 16 are accompanied by an adult and that dogs are left at home.

To find out what events are on in your region visit our Regions and Nations page, click on where you live - if there are any activities in your region they will be listed on the page.

For details on what to bring click here.

Plant & fungi species

Exquisite, wildly varied and often surprising, plants and fungi are the essential fabric of our countryside upon which all other wildlife depends.

Have a browse through the list below to find out more about some of Wales’ wild plants and fungi. Please be aware that this is a work in progress and currently contains only a small selection of our full floral heritage. Over time we aim to keep adding to it until we build a complete database.

Plant & fungi species

Exquisite, wildly varied and often surprising, plants and fungi are the essential fabric of our countryside upon which all other wildlife depends.

Have a browse through the list below to find out more about some of Scotland’s wild plants and fungi. Please be aware that this is a work in progress and currently contains only a small selection of our full floral heritage. Over time we aim to keep adding to it until we build a complete database.

To download a list of species we’re actively engaged in conserving in Scotland, please click here.

2012 Calendar

2012 Calendar

£3.00
Featuring winning photos from the 2011 Plantlife Photo Competiton. A perfect gift for a friend – or a treat for your own home. Images are available to view via link in menu, left.

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Snow covered umbellifer card

Snow covered umbellifer card

£1.00
Each pack contains 10 cards, with the message ‘With Best Wishes for Christmas and the New Year'.

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Holly with berries card

Holly with berries card

£1.00
Each pack contains 10 cards, with the message ‘With Best Wishes for Christmas and the New Year'.

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Frosty nettles card

Frosty nettles card

£1.00
Each pack contains 10 cards, with the message ‘With Best Wishes for Christmas and the New Year'.

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Mistletoe card

Mistletoe card

£1.00
Each pack contains 10 cards, with the message ‘Seasons greetings'.

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Jute bag

Jute bag

£4.00
Give up those plastic bags and show your support for our wild plants!

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Make a donation

Make a donation

All donations will aid our work saving wild plants and their habitats.

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Postage and Packaging

1-4 packs cards: £2.50

5-9 packs cards: £4.00

1-2 Calendars: £1.50

3-4 Calendars: £2.50

1-2 Jute bags: £1.50

3-4 Jute bags: £2.50

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