YP Comment: Rare plants at risk of extinction
Ours is a green and pleasant land, home to a rich variety of animal and plant life. But are we taking it for granted? According to the conservation charity Plantlife, some of the UK's rarest plants face extinction unless more is done to protect the road verges that have become their final refuge.
Britain’s grass verges are home to more than 700 species of wild plants, alarmingly, though, one in eight are now either threatened with extinction or are heading towards it. Many of these verges were once part of ancient hay meadows and grasslands, most of which have vanished from our countryside over the last 80 years.
It may seem insignificant given the wider environmental challenges we face, however wildflowers are a last bastion for many declining bee, butterfly and bird species, and if we don’t better protect our wild plants and flowers we risk losing them, making us all the poorer.