One of UK’s rarest plants found growing on public footpath

Environment
24 Dec 2025 • 4:56 PM MYT
The Independent
The Independent

The world’s most free-thinking newspaper

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  • Conservationists have launched a rescue mission for the starved wood-sedge, one of the UK's rarest plants, after it began growing on a public footpath in Somerset.
  • The critically endangered species, found at only two native UK sites, was at risk of being trampled, prompting intervention from the Species Recovery Trust.
  • The plants have been moved to a specialist nursery for propagation, where they will be 'bulked up' before being used to recolonise the original site.
  • The Species Recovery Trust also plans to establish two new populations of the starved wood-sedge within the Mendip Hills National Landscape to ensure its long-term safety.
  • This rescue is part of the trust's broader commitment to remove 50 species from the brink of extinction in the UK by 2050.

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