We have made some fact sheets about endangered animals, but we have not really looked at plants that are endangered. We really like plants and flowers and think that they are very important because they give us and other animals food, they take in carbon dioxide, they help bees and other insects, and they look nice. So we thought we would find out about which plants were most endangered in the UK.
First there is the ghost orchid. This used to be quite common but has not been seen anywhere since 2009. It lives underground and in very dark woodland and only grows when it is very cold, so people might not have seen it. It is very sensitive to getting trampled or to the wrong chemicals in rain so it is possible that it has already gone extinct in the UK.
Lots of the most endangered plants in the UK are orchids including the Red Helleborine, Lady Orchid and lesser-butterfly orchid.
Another critically endangered plant is wood calamint. It is a herb that smells minty and is often found at the edge of woods. Only very small patches of it are found now. This is because of woods being cut down and some that is found at the sides of roads has also been cut back.
To help stop some of these plants from going extinct we should try to keep more areas of grass more wild. Areas by the sides of roads are very important for a lot of wild flowers so wit would be better if these were left to be wild instead of being cut. Another thing that we can do is to look out for unusual plants in our areas and if we see any, let wildlife groups know and make sure they do not get picked.
Thank you for writing about plants, sometimes the animals are more exciting to see and write about but without the plants we would have no animals, there are some fairly rare orchids at Riveaulx Terrace that I saw about ten years ago