Narrow-leaved Bitter-cress (Cardamine impatiens)
Key Details
| Taxonomic Groups: | Vascular plant > flowering plant > Herbaceous 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: | Cardamine impatiens |
| 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: | Although assessed as LC in England (Stroh et al. 2014), Plant Atlas 2020 showed a long-term decline at the hectad scale which has become more pronounced in recent decades (Stroh et al., 2023). The suggested reasons include increased shade and reduced disturbance in woodlands where management has largely ceased, possibly in combination with increased nutrient deposition increasing competition. However, the loss of Ash in the last decade may counter these losses to some extent. |
| Question 2: | Does recovery/ conservation depend on species-specific actions? |
| Response: | No |
| Justification: | This species is still widespread enough in its core range to not warrant any specific conservation measures. |
| 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 is still widespread enough in woodlands in its core range to benefit from untargeted habitat management such as clear-felling, rotational coppice, etc. that restores early successional habitats. |
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.