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.
Range & Status
Mainly a Mediterranean species in Europe, reaching Crete and Albania in the east and extending north along Atlantic coasts to Scotland. Also occurs in Macaronesia and California. In Britain known in widely scattered localities in Wales and C. and S. England, with one in SW. Scotland (Kintyre).
Regional Distribution
Total of ca 20 localities known, on or near both coasts and inland. Doubtless underrecorded because of its small size and the critical nature of the genus.
Habitat & Ecology
Local and often occurring in small quantity, on crumbling slightly acidic, loamy soil in
warm sheltered and lightly shaded places. Cornish records are from rocky crevices on cliffs, beside creeks, on rocky roadside cuttings, on stream banks and in a quarry. It is an autoicous species in which capsules are frequent, maturing in Cornwall from January to May. Foliar gemmae are common.
Threats
No detailed information, but likely to be at risk from increased shading as taller vegetation colonises its sites or from road works at some sites.
Conservation
None.
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.