Slender Centaury (Centaurium tenuiflorum)
Key Details
| Taxonomic Groups: | Vascular plant > flowering plant > Herbaceous plant |
| 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: | Centaurium tenuiflorum |
| UKSI Recommended Authority: | (Hoffmanns. & Link) Fritsch |
| 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: | Though assessed as LC in England (Stroh et al. 2014) & flourishing in Dorset, the species requires conservation effort on Isle of Wight. |
| Question 2: | Does recovery/ conservation depend on species-specific actions? |
| Response: | Yes |
| Justification: | On Isle of Wight only - populations in Dorset regulated by natural cliff falls etc |
| 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 would not benefit from untargeted management |
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 - insufficient |
| Species Comments: | Dorset population numbers 25,000-100,00 plants annually, over 12 km of coastline, where natural erosion creates niches for establishment. Species on at threat on Isle of Wight, where populations irregular & small |
Key Actions
Key Action 1
Proposed Action: Review current state of two Isle of Wight sites, with view to assessing possible conservation actions to revive populations
Action targets: 5. Remedial action identified
Action type: Scientific research
Duration: 2 years
Scale of Implementation: ≤ 5 sites
High priority sites: Medina Estuary SSSI (IOW). King's Quay Shore SSSI (IOW)
Comments: Species thought lost since 1980s on IOW, but refound in 2006 (& confirmed in 2018).
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.