Status of wild plants
The UK has an international obligation to protect those living species which appear on either the Bern Convention (The Convention on the Conservation of European Wildlife and Natural Habitats) or the European Community Habitats and Species Directive. These species are considered to be threatened in Europe as a whole.
Wildlife and Countryside Act
Statutory protection in Great Britain is provided by the Wildlife and Countryside Act (1981). The plants and fungi which have special protection are listed on Schedule 8, and this list is reviewed every five years.
In addition to legislative lists, an assessment has been made of threat to species and their rarity. These lists include species with either international obligations or statutory protection.
Biodiversity
Other species are important at a local and regional level and are included in Biodiversity Action Plans (BAP). These plans were created as a result of the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro in Brazil. The hope is to achieve more sustainable development throughout the world. Development can not be considered sustainable if biodiversity is diminishing.
Historical herbarium specimens are important when considering the current distribution of plants. Just as special status is given to species in the wild so it is given to the same species in the herbarium with the folders being correspondingly marked. Herbarium specimens have many uses but importantly give ecological clues and patterns of past distributions.
Status Categories
Extinct
Plants which are no longer known to exist in the wild after repeated searches of their localities and other known likely places.
Extinct in the Wild
A plant is extinct in the wild when it is known only to survive in cultivation, in captivity or as a naturalized population well outside the past range. A plant is presumed extinct in the wild when exhaustive surveys in known and/or expected habitat, at appropriate times (diurnal, seasonal, annual) throughout its range have failed to record it. Surveys should be over a time frame appropriate to the plant life cycle and life form.
Critically Endangered
A plant is critically endangered when it is facing an extremely high risk of extinction in the wild in the immediate future.
Endangered
A plant is endangered when it is considered to be facing a very high risk of extinction in the wild.
Vulnerable
A plant is vulnerable when it is considered to be facing a high risk of extinction in the wild.
Near Threatened
A plant is near threatened when it is close to qualifying for or is likely to qualify for a threatened category in the near future. In Britain, this category includes species which occur in 15 or fewer hectads (10x10Km map squares) but do not qualify as Critically Endangered, Endangered or Vulnerable.
