Shropshire - Botanical Society of the British Isles

Changes in the floraThe most dramatic change to the flora occurswhen a species goes extinct, but there is onlyone plant that has been recorded in Shropshirethat might genuinely be lost to the world. Thatis Painter’s Fumitory Fumaria painteri, whichprobably arose here by hybridisation, and thendied out again fairly quickly.Other species have apparently gone from thecounty, although they could of course comeback from buried seed or by recolonisationfrom elsewhere. ‘Extinction’ is perhaps a ratherdramatic word for these losses, but theredoesn’t seem to a better one, so it is used hereto describe species that we believe are nolonger found in the wild in the county. The listbelow shows the 48 native species (excludinghybrids, subspecies and critical taxa) that webelieve have gone extinct.Extinctions from v.c. 40Date of last recordSubularia aquatica 1805Lycopodiella inundata 1849Hornungia petraea 1855Saxifraga hypnoides 1856Dryopteris aemula 1858Gymnocarpium robertianum 1864Equisetum hyemale 1877Potamogeton coloratus 1882Scheuchzeria palustris 1884Potamogeton gramineus 1885Blysmus compressus 1886Cephalanthera longifolia 1891Juniperus communis 1891Carex distans 1892Epipogium aphyllum 1892Isoetes lacustris 1893Deschampsia setacea 1894Hippuris vulgaris 1897Myriophyllum verticillatum 1897Utricularia vulgaris 1903Orchis ustulata 1904Fumaria painteri 1907Listera cordata 1920Lobelia dortmanna 1922Juncus compressus 1924Campanula glomerata 1935Ophrys insectifera 1944Antennaria dioica 1945Cardamine impatiens 1959Limosella aquatica 1962Pilularia globulifera 1962Carex limosa 1976Hordeum secalinum 1978Persicaria mitis 1979Potamogeton lucens 1979Hymenophyllum wilsonii 1984Sparganium natans 1985Gentianella campestris 1986Diphasiastrum alpinum 1991Rubus saxatilis 1991Epipactis leptochila 1993Potamogeton praelongus 1995Baldellia ranunculoides 1996Drosera anglica 1998Drosera intermedia 1999Potamogeton compressus 2002Potamogeton friesii 2002Climate change is one of the causes ofextinction. Two hundred years ago Shropshirewas just coming out of the Little Ice Age.Plants that had presumably survived here sincethe end of the last major glaciation 15,000years ago would have been thriving. Since thenthe climate has become quite unsuitable forspecies such as Rannoch-rush Scheuchzeriapalustris and Awlwort Subularia aquatica.Drainage of wetlands was another early causeof extinctions. Much of north Shropshire wasonce wet, with the Weald Moors covering largeparts of the east, and valley mires along theMorda, Perry, Roden and Tern occupying vastareas in the west. Between the river catchmentswere numerous meres and mosses, some ofwhich have been completely drained anderadicated from the maps. The pondweedsPotamogeton coloratus, gramineus and lucensare among the casualties of this activity, as isMare’s-tail Hippuris vulgaris.Amelioration of the climate coincided withimproved transport at the end of the eighteenthcentury, firstly with the canals and then therailways. This stimulated a change from sheepfarming to dairying as the dominant land use innorth Shropshire, and brought the first effectsof eutrophication. Agricultural intensificationhas continued to the present day,Carex diandra 1956 complementing the effects of warmer weatherRare Plants of Shropshire 11