Borrer's Saltmarsh-grass (Puccinellia fasciculata)
Key Details
| Taxonomic Groups: | Vascular plant > flowering plant > Grass |
| Red List Status: | Vulnerable (Not Relevant) [VU(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: | Puccinellia fasciculata |
| UKSI Recommended Authority: | (Torr.) E.P.Bicknell |
| 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: | A perennial grass of bare, disturbed places by the sea including the edges of depression and pools in coastal saltmarsh, seawalls and vehicle tracks. It appears to have declined historically due to loss of habitat to agriculture and coastal developments and consequently is was assessed as VU in England (Stroh et al., 2014). |
| Question 2: | Does recovery/ conservation depend on species-specific actions? |
| Response: | Yes |
| Justification: | A rapidly declining species in need of recovery measures although its precise ecological requirements are poorly known. |
| 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: | A species that would benefit from the restoration and creation of coastal habitats such a grazing marsh and saltmarsh as part of coastal retreat schemes. |
Species Assessment
| Current step on the Species Recovery Curve (SRC): | 2. Biological status assessment exists |
| Recovery potential/expectation: | Unknown |
| National Monitoring Resource: | Opportunistic - sufficient |
| Species Comments: |
Key Actions
Key Action 1
Proposed Action: Further information is needed on the ecological requirements of this species as well as an assessment of its overall distribution, population sizes and the threats it faces.
Action targets: 4. Autecology and pressures understood
Action type: Status survey/review
Duration: 2 years
Scale of Implementation: National
High priority sites:
Comments:
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.