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.

Valerianella eriocarpa - Hairy-fruited Cornsalad



Range & Status

A Submediterranean-Subatlantic neophyte. It is native only in southern Europe, but has extended northwards into Britain as far as Scotland. Formerly more widespread in Britain, though often only as a casual, it is now restricted to Cornwall, Devon, Somerset, Dorset and the Isle of Wight.

Regional Distribution

Recorded in the past from 16 1km squares in Cornwall, it now persists only in three 1km squares; at Harbour Cove, Padstow (SW97), Pentire (SW76) and Riviere Towans, Hayle (SW53).

Habitat & Ecology

It requires dry, open habitats such as coastal rocky outcrops, banks, edges of pavements, waste ground and arable fields.

Threats

Always rare, it is vulnerable, perhaps due to its need for a mild climate. However populations have declined from the loss of suitably maintained marginal habitats on the one hand and overgrowth by scrub on the other. In good years populations can be high.

Conservation

None of the sites are protected.

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.



Cornish Biodiversity Network. 2017.