Pillwort (Pilularia globulifera)
Key Details
| Taxonomic Groups: | Vascular plant > fern > Fern |
| Red List Status: | Near Threatened (Not Relevant) [NT(nr)] |
| D5 Status: | Included in the baseline Red List Index for England (Wilkins, Wilson & Brown, 2022) |
| Section 41 Status: | (not listed) |
| Taxa Included Synonym: | (none) |
| UKSI Recommended Name: | Pilularia globulifera |
| UKSI Recommended Authority: | L. |
| UKSI Recommended Qualifier: | (none specified) |
| Red List Citation: | in Stroh et al., 2014 |
| Notes on taxonomy/listing: | (none) |
Criteria
| Question 1: | Does species need conservation or recovery in England? |
| Response: | Yes |
| Justification: | Healthy populations survive at the Lizard & the New Forest, but still declining across much of range & often restricted to small, highly localised colonies |
| Question 2: | Does recovery/ conservation depend on species-specific actions? |
| Response: | Yes |
| Justification: | Highly reliant on continuing heavy grazing & disturbance (both from livestock & human activity). Disappears rapidly if heavy levels of management cease. Benefits from targeted creation of new seasonally-flooded waterbodies |
| Question 3: | At a landscape scale, would the species benefit from untargeted habitat management to increase habitat mosaics, structural diversity, or particular successional stages? |
| Response: | Yes |
| Justification: | Reintroduction or maintenance of grazing at extant or former sites likely to benefit some populations, but targeted management needed to restore species widely |
Species Assessment
| Current step on the Species Recovery Curve (SRC): | 5. Remedial action identified |
| Recovery potential/expectation: | Medium-high |
| National Monitoring Resource: | Combination - insufficient |
| Species Comments: | Species likely to respond favourably to suitable management: a long-lived spore bank allows the recovery of 'lost' populations, & species colonises new suitable habitat rapidly |
Key Actions
Key Action 1
Proposed Action: Monitor a sample of populations in stronghold areas, and all populations in non-stronghold/vulnerable areas.
Action targets: 3. National Monitoring Plan agreed and implemented
Action type: Targeted monitoring
Duration: 3-5 years
Scale of Implementation: ≤ 50 sites
High priority sites:
Comments: Monitoring should record abundance of species, but additionally assess state of habitat (assessing vegetation structure, build up of leaf litter, presence of scrub & tall herbs etc)
Key Action 2
Proposed Action: Manage prioritised populations through restoring / creating pool sites through mechanical excavation; maintenance of/reintroduction of appropriate grazing regimes; aiming to expand sites & establish linkages between scattered populations.
Action targets: 5. Remedial action identified
Action type: Habitat management
Duration: 3-5 years
Scale of Implementation: ≤ 20 sites
High priority sites:
Comments: Include species at edge of range, if sustainable long-term management of sites can be reinstated/maintained (including extensive grazing)
Key Action 3
Proposed Action: Introduce a diversity of microhabitats into favoured heathland locations, through creation / restoration of pools, hollows, trackways etc - including 'ghost' pools & trackways.
Action targets: 5. Remedial action identified
Action type: Habitat creation
Duration: 3-5 years
Scale of Implementation: ≤ 20 sites
High priority sites:
Comments: Pilularia globulifera responds well to restoration of 'lost' waterbodies & creation of new seasonally-flooded waterbodies close to existing colonies.
Acknowledgment:
Data used on this website are adapted from Threatened species recovery actions 2025 baseline (JP065): Technical report and spreadsheet user guide (Natural England, 2025). Available here.