Flower once nearly extinct found in the wild for first time in a century
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‘Thrilling moment’ in fight to save rare plant
- Conservationists are celebrating the resurgence of the lady’s-slipper orchid, one of Britain’s rarest wildflowers, after the discovery of the first new plant in the wild after almost a century.
- The lady’s-slipper orchid, driven to near-extinction by Victorian plant hunters and habitat loss, was believed to have disappeared from the UK by the early 20th century, until a single plant was discovered in 1930.
- Yorkshire Wildlife Trust secured a grant from Natural England’s species recovery programme two years ago to protect the habitat, rear new orchids, and reintroduce plants into a suitable habitat.
- Monitoring has uncovered a “new” lady’s-slipper orchid at one of the reintroduction sites, indicating that planted-out orchids had managed to produce seeds that germinated into new plants.
- Jono Leadley, managing the project on behalf of the trust, hailed the discovery as a “truly thrilling moment”.