Spiral Tasselweed (Ruppia cirrhosa)
Key Details
| Taxonomic Groups: | Vascular plant > flowering plant > Aquatic plant |
| 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: | Ruppia spiralis |
| UKSI Recommended Authority: | L. ex Dumort. |
| 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: | No |
| Justification: | This floating aquatic perennial herb is confined to coastal lakes, inlets, creeks and ditches, mainly in southern and eastern England as far north as the Humer Estuary. It declined historically due to coastal developments but its current distribution appears to be stable although complicated by under-recording and confusion with R. maritima with which it sometimes occurs (Stroh et al., 2023). It was assessed as NT in GB (Cheffings et al., 2005) but LC in England due to a lack of evidence of a pronounced decline and a widespread distribution. It therefore does not qualify for recovery in England. |
| Question 2: | Does recovery/ conservation depend on species-specific actions? |
| Response: | No |
| Justification: | This species is still relatively widespread and does not appear to be declining. |
| 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: | This species potentially benefit from the large-scale creation of coastal habitats including saltmarshes and flooded grazing marsh. |
Species Assessment
Not relevant as no Key Actions defined.
Key Actions
No Key Actions Defined
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.