Starfruit  (Damasonium alisma)

Starfruit has never been common in Britain, being largely confined to a few localities in the south-east. The plant declined spectacularly in the 20th century and by 1980 was only known from one pond. This was no doubt due to the neglect and lack of management of ponds and changes from traditional methods of watering livestock. The growth of competing plants is thought to have choked out starfruit which needs open vegetation. Many ponds will also have suffered a decline in water quality; starfruit has a requirement for high water quality and low nutrient levels. In addition, ponds were filled in or managed for angling interests with a constant water level instead of the fluctuating levels preferred by this species.

Starfruit is included in English Nature's Species Recovery Programme and Plantlife's Back from the Brink project. Originally, the project attempted a programme of re-introduction into suitable ponds within the plant's former range. However, this enjoyed little success and it was as a result of the activities of a commons preservation society that the secret of starfruit's recovery was discovered.

This preservation society in Buckinghamshire had decided to restore their village pond and had set about clearing the accumulation of weed and rubbish from the bottom. In doing this, they disturbed the mud and, a few weeks later, a local botanist noticed the re-appearance of starfruit. The seeds which had lain dormant in the mud of the pond for many years had germinated.

Plantlife experimented by disturbing other ponds nearby and found that starfruit appeared within a relatively short time. This early success led to a change of policy with regard to the recovery programme and efforts have been concentrated on discovering more about the precise conditions required by the plant.

Starfruit has been a victim of changes in human activity. It has declined due to changes in the way we interact with our environment. The aim of the recovery programme is to re-create the conditions needed to return a rare and unusual but important native species back to a state where it remains part of our natural heritage.