Cornish Biodiversity Network  -  Supporting Wildlife Recording

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Cornish Red Data (2009)

The descriptive text, below the map, is from the Cornish Red Data Book (2009). The map on this web page depicts the organisms distribution and shows the records made pre-2000 and those made since.

Platanthera bifolia - Lesser Butterfly-orchid



Range & Status

Native. Eurasian Boreo-temperate orchid. Found mostly in the south and west of the

British Isles, this orchid has declined considerably throughout, and today is now less

frequent towards the east.

Regional Distribution

Once recorded across Cornwall, it is now found rarely in the mid-Cornwall moors (SW95 and SW96), on The Lizard (SW71), at Greena Moor (SX29) and in the Callington area (SX37).

Habitat & Ecology

A plant of species-rich grassland, wet heaths, heathy banks and under Bracken Pteridium aquilinum .

Threats

Habitat loss through destruction, and lack of grazing. Many previous sites have become overgrown with scrub.

Conservation

Some sites are protected.



Click here to see Aphotoflora images by David Fenwick

Source:

I.J. Bennallick, S. Board, C.N. French, P.A. Gainey, C. Neil, R. Parslow, A. Spalding and P.E. Tompsett. eds. 2009. Red Data Book for Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly. 2nd Edition.Croceago Press.

The Cornish Red Data Book Project was led by the Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Federation for Biological Recorders (CISFBR). The full text and species accounts (minus the maps) are available on the CISFBR website.