Open for everyone! The project organises a lot of events on the ground during the year, so it's nice to throw these online events open for everyone to enjoy 😁

And, as a final note, Wikipedia's article on Edmondston's Chickweed is not up to date, stating that Cerastium nigrescens is the endemic, not var. nigrescens!

I'll try and edit it for accuracy.

Even though I visited Unst and saw Edmondston's Chickweed whilst researching my book Endemic, I ended up not including it to make space for more evolutionary distinct endemics.

Arctic Mouse-ear is found elsewhere in Scotland, Iceland and Scandinavia, but only Unst has var. nigrescens.

It was first discovered here in 1837 by the 12 year old Thomas Edmondston, who tragically died in an accident at age 20 whilst retracing the journey Darwin had taken on the Beagle.

That's great - looks like it could be the first record for West Sussex then!

Hi Steve, Parietaria officinalis has never been recorded in VC17, Surrey before - please submit the record to your VCRs and let them know (if you haven't already).

Yes, that looks to be it. Rare indeed - population of 407 trees in 2007 according to Plant Atlas: share.google/Fd9yie1iAV2q...

Please submit the record - it would be good to know if the population is going up or down.

I have saw the single remaining mature tree - the only one left in the wild - back in August 2023 (that beautiful multi-stemmed clump).

I wrote about tracking it down in my book Endemic: Exploring the wildlife unique to Britain (consider it for your Christmas lists 😉)

share.google/BGjKP3njozRd...

These talks, and the entire project, are all possible thanks to funding from @daera-ni.gov.uk

We have another dozen talks still to go, with the next four being:

🟢Getting started with Rushes

🟢Leylandii and their look-a-likes

🟢10 Years of the National Plant Monitoring Scheme

🟢 Clubmosses of Ireland and Britain

All of these can be booked from this page: bsbi.org/botanical-sk...

If you're not already a BSBI member, then you should absolutely join us and help make a difference. You can join right now and get 14 months of membership for the price of 12: bsbi.org/join-us

This Red List was built on around 50 million plant records collected by thousands of volunteer botanists with @bsbibotany.bsky.social between 1930 and 2019 - a stunning example of citizen science at work.

The message is clear: more than a quarter of our flora is threatened.

We know the drivers. What’s needed now is urgent, coordinated action to restore our wild plants. 🌱

Read the full Red List → britishandirishbotany.org/index.php/bi...

BSBI President Prof Paul Ashton says:

“Although the situation seems bleak, there are still many areas where our wild plants continue to flourish. We now have the evidence to understand what’s being lost - and what needs to be done.”