Perennial Centaury (Centaurium scilloides)
Key Details
| Taxonomic Groups: | Vascular plant > flowering plant > Herbaceous plant |
| Red List Status: | Endangered (Not Relevant) [EN(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: | Centaurium portense |
| UKSI Recommended Authority: | (Brot.) Butcher |
| 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: | Assessed as EN in England (Stroh et al. 2014), and confined to two adjacent sites with total population of c. 100-200 plants in 2024. |
| Question 2: | Does recovery/ conservation depend on species-specific actions? |
| Response: | Yes |
| Justification: | Species apparently reappeared in England following reinstatement of conservation grazing on cliff slopes: species very conservation management dependent. |
| 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: | Expansion of cliff-top grazing on granite in Cornwall could allow species to spread |
Species Assessment
| Current step on the Species Recovery Curve (SRC): | 4. Autecology and pressures understood |
| Recovery potential/expectation: | Low - Relict or natural rarity |
| National Monitoring Resource: | Opportunistic - sufficient |
| Species Comments: | Species only recorded as native in two separate stretches of coastal cliff in Cornwall. Rediscovered at Porthgwarra & Porth Loe (W Cornwall) in 2010, apparently following reintroduction of cliff-slope grazing |
Key Actions
Key Action 1
Proposed Action: Monitor populations at Porthgwarra & Porth Loe, assessing impacts of conservation grazing & other management activities on highly localised populations
Action targets: 3. National Monitoring Plan agreed and implemented
Action type: Status survey/review
Duration: Unknown
Scale of Implementation: 1 site
High priority sites: Porthgwarra to Pordenack Point SSSI (Cornwall)
Comments: Close monitoring (minimum once every three years) needed due to small population size at this site. No plants seen in one of two subpopulations in 2024.
Key Action 2
Proposed Action: Undertake localised management trials of cliff-top heathland, including aftermath grazing, to assess impact on C. scilloides & associated grass-heath vegetation
Action targets: 4. Autecology and pressures understood
Action type: Scientific research
Duration: 3-5 years
Scale of Implementation: 1 site
High priority sites: Porthgwarra to Pordenack Point SSSI (Cornwall)
Comments:
Key Action 3
Proposed Action: Review status of lost population at Sandy Mouth site (north-east Cornwall) through site survey & literature review, to assess management possibilities to restore population from buried seed
Action targets: 6. Recovery solutions trialled
Action type: Habitat management
Duration: 2 years
Scale of Implementation: 1 site
High priority sites: Duckpool to Furzey Cove SSSI (Cornwall, geological SSSI)
Comments: The apparent reappearance at Porthgwarra of C. scilloides after 40 years + suggests that the species could reappear at Sandy Mouth.
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.