Twinflower Linnaea borealis

Twinflower
©Michael Scott

Twinflower (Linnaea borealis) is a characteristic plant of our native pinewoods. As well as Twinflower, our species conservation programme Back from the Brink also includes One-flowered Wintergreen (Moneses uniflora), Intermediate Wintergreen (Orthilia secunda) and Creeping lady's-tresses (Goodyera repens), which also grow in the same habitat.

Past informs future management

Twinflower has declined in extent over the last few hundred years, particularly before the 1930s (Preston et al 2000). This has been attributed to the clearance of native woodland but is also likely to have been affected by changes in woodland and forestry management. Plantlife commissioned a desk top study that suggested that a return to more traditional methods of timber extraction may help to enhance twinflower populations and could help them establish more widely through their habitat.

Timber extraction
©Arch

The scale of forestry in historical times would have been much smaller. Felling individual trees and dragging them from site was a common practice and may also have been beneficial for Twinflower in the past. This would have maintained a range of light and humidity levels, created bare patches of ground for Twinflower to establish new plants and dragged fragments of stem from one area to another where they could establish.

Plantlife, with Forest Research, Scottish Natural Heritage and local land owners is now setting up a series of management trials to test these ideas at sites in Speyside and Moray. Sites will be monitored over the next five years to see if timber operations can be used to help restore Twinflower populations.

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