Salvia Pratensis Summary

SUMMARY Salvia pratensis Meadow clary, Clari’r maes LAMIACEAE SYN.: none Illustration by Fred Rumsey STATUS Nationally Scarce. central England it is currently thought to Schedule 8 Wildlife & Countryside Act be native in eight vice counties across (1981). this region and South Wales. If it was a 38 (20 possibly / native) / 233 10-km recent introduction (the first record as a squares post 1987. wild plant was in 1699), then either it must have been introduced very locally, OVERVIEW or it underwent a rapid expansion Salvia pratensis is a striking and easily followed by a rapid reduction in range. recognizable, long-lived, erect perennial herb with violet-blue flowers. It grows It was regarded as rare in the 19th on calcareous soils within a wide range century when its decline was attributed of habitats including hay meadows, to the ploughing up of downland. It is pastures, green lanes, road verges, extinct in many English and Welsh scrub and woodland clearings. It is at counties, although the majority of these the northwestern edge of its European records have been determined as range in the U.K., where it is confined to introductions, and most of the south, southwest or west-facing slopes, extinctions of Salvia pratensis on sites and may struggle in very wet years, that are thought to have been native particularly wet winters. It is very occurred in the Cotswolds Natural Area. localized in southern England and there Most of the losses of entire populations are uncertainties over its native status occurred before 1930, mainly due to at many current and former sites. Salvia agricultural intensification. In recent pratensis has an unusual distribution in decades the populations of many of the the U.K. and its origins are uncertain. extant native sites appear to have Although there is a lack of any historic declined although some of these declines records from large areas of southern and have been reversed with changes in management and bulking up exercises. DISTRIBUTION Number of extant sites per vice county and a list of vice counties in which Salvia pratensis is extinct: ENGLAND EXTANT North Wiltshire 1 North Hampshire 1 (? native) West Sussex 1 East Kent 2 West Kent 2 Surrey 1 Oxfordshire 14 Buckinghamshire 2 West Gloucestershire 2 EXTINCT West Cornwall, East Cornwall, South Devon, North Somerset, South Wiltshire, Dorset, Isle of Wight, South Hampshire, East Sussex, Hertfordshire, Middlesex, Berkshire, East Suffolk, West Suffolk, East Norfolk, West Norfolk, Cambridgeshire, Bedfordshire, Hampshire, SUMMARY Northamptonshire, East Gloucestershire, Herefordshire, Worcestershire, Warwickshire, Shropshire, Glamorgan, South Lincolnshire, North Lincolnshire, Leicestershire, Derbyshire, South East Yorkshire, Cumberland. (Most of the sites concerned have been determined as introductions. The sites in East Gloucestershire and possibly in Herefordshire were native.) WALES EXTANT Monmouthshire 1 EXTINCT Extinct in many counties although the majority of these records have been determined as introductions. MANAGEMENT RECOMMENDED FUTURE ACTION Shading affects flowering performance Maintain / reinstate optimal and intense grazing prevents flowering. management. Germination occurs immediately after Monitor known & former sites. wetting so a persistent seed bank is Encourage natural colonization of unlikely and it is vital to ensure suitable new sites. management of remaining sites. Seedlings Maintain ex situ stocks. appear from July onwards. Recruitment Continue genetic studies. from seedlings is dependent on appropriate levels of soil disturbance and For a detailed profile of Salvia pratensis adequate light levels although seedlings view or download a copy of the full dossier growing on active anthills tend to die as also available from our Species Dossier they are buried under more earth. Litter web page. accumulation in unmanaged grassland prevents seedling establishment. CONTACTS Plantlife International The timing and intensity of management The Wild-Plant Conservation Charity is therefore crucial in allowing flowering 14 Rollestone Street and seedling establishment, preventing Salisbury, Wiltshire, SP1 1DX the build up of litter, suppressing Tel. 01722 342730 competitive vegetation, preventing scrub encroachment and creating patches of Andy Byfield bare soil. Cattle, sheep and horse grazing [email protected] or late mowing followed by aftermath Amanda Miller grazing can all be effective management [email protected] tools. Spring grazing by sheep is effective Miles King but winter grazing alone encourages a [email protected] build-up of litter and coarse grasses. Rabbits create bare ground but encourage Plantlife International’s Back from the the development of a bryophyte layer that Brink (species recovery) programme is prevents seedling establishment. Cattle supported by English Nature, Scottish remove flowering shoots so temporary Natural Heritage and the Countryside seasonal exclosures are necessary. Post- Council for Wales. flowering scarification to create bare soil and scrub control should be undertaken if Work on Salvia pratensis is supported by: necessary. RECENT DEVELOPMENTS Systematic seed collection and propagation programmes have increased the populations of several sites. Genetic studies have shown that genetic erosion and hence allozyme loss have occurred in small populations of Salvia pratensis and Compiled by Sarah Garnett this could lead to a loss of fitness in First draft dated 15 July 2004 future. .

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