Cornflower (Centaurea cyanus)
Key Details
| Taxonomic Groups: | Vascular plant > flowering plant > Herbaceous plant |
| Red List Status: | Least Concern (Not Relevant) [LC(nr)] |
| D5 Status: | |
| Section 41 Status: | (not listed) |
| Taxa Included Synonym: | (none) |
| UKSI Recommended Name: | Centaurea cyanus |
| 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 Cornflower was assessed as LC in GB and England (Stroh et al., 2014) it is clear that it underwent a dramatic historic decline before the 1950s as a result of improvement in the cleaning of cereal seeds. As a consequence, Cornflower is possibly regionally extinct as a long-established (archaeophyte) arable weed, but it's overall range has increased as a neophyte due to deliberate planting in seed mixtures (Stroh et al., 2024). It may be possible to identify archaeophyte populations using molecular methods and so this should be investigated |
| Question 2: | Does recovery/ conservation depend on species-specific actions? |
| Response: | Yes |
| Justification: | It may be possible to identify archaeophyte (long-established) populations using molecular methods that could be restored and used for further reintroductions to historic sites |
| 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: | No |
| Justification: | This species is effectively extinct as an archaeophyte of arable land and so will not benefit from untargeted management. |
Species Assessment
| Current step on the Species Recovery Curve (SRC): | 5. Remedial action identified |
| Recovery potential/expectation: | Low - Relict or natural rarity |
| National Monitoring Resource: | Opportunistic - sufficient |
| Species Comments: |
Key Actions
Key Action 1
Proposed Action: DNA investigation to identify remnants of archaeophyte populations
Action targets: 5. Remedial action identified
Action type: Scientific research
Duration: 2 years
Scale of Implementation: Unknown
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.