Lundy Cabbage (Coincya wrightii)
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: | Coincya wrightii |
| UKSI Recommended Authority: | (O.E.Schulz) Stace |
| 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: | This endemic perennial herb was assessed as NT in GB by Cheffings et al. (2005) and for England by Stroh et al. (2014). It remains restricted to coastal slopes on the island of Lundy in the Bristol Channel where it numbers fluctuate, often in response to rabbit numbers which vary due to myxomatosis, but have remained relatively stable over the long term. However, it is highly susceptible to over-grazing by sheep and feral goats and shading by scrub including Rhododendron. Maintaining suitable levels of grazing on the island will therefore be key to its future survival. |
| Question 2: | Does recovery/ conservation depend on species-specific actions? |
| Response: | Yes |
| Justification: | Reducing the intensity of grazing by sheep and goats on Lundy will be vital to its future survival alongside scrub removal where this threatens existing colonies. |
| 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 far too localised to benefit from untargeted habitat management. |
Species Assessment
| Current step on the Species Recovery Curve (SRC): | 4. Autecology and pressures understood |
| Recovery potential/expectation: | Medium-high |
| National Monitoring Resource: | Structured - sufficient |
| Species Comments: |
Key Actions
Key Action 1
Proposed Action: Reductions in levels of grazing by sheep and goats, especially during the summer months, to increase flowering and seeding performance.
Action targets: 7. Best approach adopted at appropriate scales
Action type: Habitat management
Duration: >10 years
Scale of Implementation: 1 site
High priority sites: Lundy
Comments:
Key Action 2
Proposed Action: Remove shrub threatening populations especially Rhododendron which is carefully controlled on Lundy but continues to spread in some areas.
Action targets: 7. Best approach adopted at appropriate scales
Action type: Habitat management
Duration: 3-5 years
Scale of Implementation: 1 site
High priority sites: Lundy
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.