Narrow-leaved cudweed (Filago gallica)

Description

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Narrow-leaved cudweed fact file

• Description
• Biology
• Range
• Habitat
• Status
• Threats
• Conservation
• Find out more
• Glossary
• References
• Print factsheet

Narrow-leaved cudweed description

Narrow-leaved cudweed produces tiny flowers ⁽⁴⁾ and has small, narrow, silvery-grey to green leaves. The seeds are known as achenes, which are single seeded fruits that separate from the plant in one piece ⁽⁵⁾. Two types of achene are produced, the first type is shed in the bracts, and the second type is blown away in the wind ⁽⁴⁾. The common name of the cudweeds arises from the practice dating from the 1600s of placing these plants in the mouth of cows that had 'lost their cud' ⁽⁶⁾.

Size

Height: 5-15 cm (occasionally up to 30cm) ⁽²⁾

Narrow-leaved cudweed biology

Narrow-leaved cudweed tends to occur as a summer annual in the UK, but seeds can generally germinate at any time of the year, so it may occasionally occur as a winter annual. The flowers are thought to self-pollinate, and there have been no records of insects visiting the flowers ⁽⁴⁾. A seed bank can lie dormant until conditions become suitable for the plant to germinate ⁽³⁾. Although thought to be an introduced species in Britain for many years, recent work suggests that it is actually a native species ⁽⁴⁾.

Narrow-leaved cudweed range

In the UK this species reaches the northern extreme of its range ⁽⁴⁾. It is restricted to the south-east of England and Sark in the Channel Islands, and has always been rare ⁽³⁾. During the last 100 years this plant has suffered a serious decline ⁽⁴⁾, and was thought to be extinct on mainland Britain by 1955 ⁽⁴⁾. Elsewhere it occurs mainly in south and west Europe and North Africa ⁽⁴⁾ and is threatened in Eastern Europe ⁽³⁾.

You can view distribution information for this species at the National Biodiversity Network Gateway.

Narrow-leaved cudweed habitat

Inhabits open sites that are subject to disturbance, including arable field margins ⁽³⁾, gravel pits, heathland and sandy open ground ⁽⁴⁾.

Narrow-leaved cudweed status

Classified as Critically Endangered in Great Britain ⁽³⁾.

Narrow-leaved cudweed threats

Narrow-leaved cudweed has declined because of changes in agriculture, and the rabbit population crash after the introduction of myxomatosis, which led to a decrease in the level of disturbance ⁽³⁾. At one Essex site the cessation of military activity after the war is thought to have resulted in the loss of the species following scrub invasion and dense growth of grasses ⁽⁴⁾. Rubbish dumping and scrub invasion are currently the main threats on Sark ⁽⁴⁾.

Narrow-leaved cudweed conservation

In 1994 it was discovered that there was a source of native narrow-leaved cudweed in cultivation. A re-introduction programme was established by Plantlife, the wild plant conservation charity, and by 1998 the species had become established at the last known British site ⁽⁴⁾. A Biodiversity Action Plan has been formulated by Plantlife, and seed has been collected for the Millennium Seed Bank at Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew ⁽⁴⁾.

There may be further information about this species available via the National Biodiversity Network Gateway.

Find out more

For more on Plantlife, the wild plant conservation charity see:
http://www.plantlife.org.uk
For more on Plantlife's Back from the Brink Campaign see:
http://www.plantlife.org.uk/html/conservation_bfb_programme.htm

Authentication

Information jointly authenticated by Tim Rich of the National Museums and Galleries of Wales, and Plantlife.

Glossary

Achene

A simple single-seeded fruit that falls from the plant in one piece; they usually in occur in clusters.

Annual

Lives or grows for just one year.

Bract

Modified leaf at the base of a flower.

Myxomatosis

A contagious viral disease in rabbits.

References

1. National Biodiversity Network Species Dictionary ( March 2002) http://www.nhm.ac.uk/nbn/
2. Rich, T. C. G. (2002) Pers. comm.
3. Wigginton, M. J. (1999) British Red Data Books 1; Vascular Plants. 3rd Edition.
4. Rich, T. C. G., Gibson, C. & Marsden, M. (1999) Re-establishment of the extinct native plant Filago gallica L. (Asteraceae), narrow-leaved cudweed, in Britain. Biological Conservation91: 1-8.
5. Grey-Wilson, C. (1994) Eyewitness handbooks: Wild Flowers of Britain and Northwest Europe. Dorling Kindersley, London.
6. Grigson, G. (1996) The Englishman's Flora. Helicon Publishing Ltd, Oxford.