Plants
Small Cow-wheat
In Great Britain small cow-wheat is classified as Nationally Scarce and is protected under Schedule 8 of the Wildlife (Northern Ireland) Order 1985, but receives no special protection elsewhere in the UK.
Small cow-wheat is an annual hemiparasitic herb found on ledges, grassy hollows and banks in woodland with a fairly open canopy in northern Britain and Northern Ireland. It also grows in tree-lined ravines, stream valleys, and, occasionally, on sloping lake shores with light tree cover.
Most sites are flushed and distinctly humid, and usually are near waterfalls, burns or lochs. At higher altitudes it sometimes occurs on corrie ledges. It has a relatively restricted distribution, and a habitat preference which is vulnerable to changing land management. The species is a European endemic which is most widespread in Scandinavia and through the Alps and Balkans.
Small cow-wheat occurs locally in Scotland, northern England and Northern Ireland, with herbarium records from the last century in Wales (see 3.2). The latest data indicate that this species has only been confirmed from 25 ten km squares, so that it appears to have been lost from 70% of its former range in the British Isles, especially in the lowlands around the margins of its distribution.
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Marsh Clubmoss
It is principally threatened by building development, including the development of mud tracks, the decline of sustainable peat-cutting, overgrazing and pollution, both land and air.
It is classified as Nationally Scarce and protected under Schedule 8 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981.
A simple plant related to both ferns and mosses, but looking more like a moss. It forms long leafy prostrate strands that meander along the soil surface, but in the autumn develops vertical ‘spikes’ with tiny, pale brown spore cases at the tips.
It grows on wet heaths, peaty soil, and other places that are under water for much of the winter, preferably with some disturbance from grazing or vehicles.
Although found at several other scattered sites, its principal home is the west side of Britain and Ireland.
Clubmosses are simple plants, related to ferns; their common name is an indication of their resemblance to true mosses, the 'club' referring to the shape of the spore-bearing cones that most produce. Marsh clubmoss is the only British member of its particular genus. In appearance, it resembles another clubmoss, Lycopodium clavatum or stag's-horn clubmoss, not uncommon in the uplands.
Like ferns, clubmosses have two distinct forms; the 'gametophyte', which stays underground and grows in partnership with a fungus, and the form in which most people are likely to see, the 'sporophyte'. This consists of long trailing and rooting stems, which are covered with a coat of tiny leaf-like scales called microphylls with tiny, pale brown spore cases at the tips.