Stinking Hawk's-beard (Crepis foetida)
Key Details
| Taxonomic Groups: | Vascular plant > flowering plant > Herbaceous plant |
| Red List Status: | Extinct in the Wild (globally) (Not Relevant) [EW(nr)] |
| D5 Status: | |
| Section 41 Status: | (not listed) |
| Taxa Included Synonym: | (none) |
| UKSI Recommended Name: | Crepis foetida |
| 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: | Assessed as CR in England (Stroh et al., 2014) due to its restricted range and small population size. This species was thought to be extinct in the 1980s but an is now known to occur in three sites. Possibly only surviving as a long-established introduction (archaeophyte) at one site (Lydd) but it has been successfully introduced to at least to others where populations have only survived where protected from grazing by rabbits. |
| Question 2: | Does recovery/ conservation depend on species-specific actions? |
| Response: | Yes |
| Justification: | This species has suffered a widespread decline and has only persisted in areas where conservation translocations/interventions have taken place. |
| 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 too rare to benefit from untargeted habitat management. |
Species Assessment
| Current step on the Species Recovery Curve (SRC): | 6. Recovery solutions trialled |
| Recovery potential/expectation: | Medium-high |
| National Monitoring Resource: | Opportunistic - sufficient |
| Species Comments: |
Key Actions
Key Action 1
Proposed Action: Until the species becomes self-sustaining, all sizeable populations should be fenced to exclude rabbit grazing in order to allow them to seed and spread to new areas.
Action targets: 6. Recovery solutions trialled
Action type: Habitat management
Duration: 3-5 years
Scale of Implementation: ≤ 5 sites
High priority sites: South East coast
Comments:
Key Action 2
Proposed Action: Further reintroduction trials should be undertaken within the historic range in Sussex and Kent.
Action targets: 6. Recovery solutions trialled
Action type: (Re-)introduction
Duration: 3-5 years
Scale of Implementation: ≤ 5 sites
High priority sites: South East coast
Comments:
Key Action 3
Proposed Action: Investigate suitable niches within its wider former range
Action targets: 4. Autecology and pressures understood
Action type: Scientific research
Duration: 2 years
Scale of Implementation: ≤ 20 sites
High priority sites: Former 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.