An Eyebright (Euphrasia ostenfeldii)
Key Details
| Taxonomic Groups: | Vascular plant > flowering plant > Herbaceous plant |
| Red List Status: | Data Deficient (Not Relevant) [DD(nr)] |
| D5 Status: | |
| Section 41 Status: | (not listed) |
| Taxa Included Synonym: | (none) |
| UKSI Recommended Name: | Euphrasia ostenfeldii |
| UKSI Recommended Authority: | (Pugsley) Yeo |
| UKSI Recommended Qualifier: | (none specified) |
| Red List Citation: | in Stroh et al., 2014 |
| Notes on taxonomy/listing: | in s41 as Euphrasia rostkoviana subsp. montana |
Criteria
| Question 1: | Does species need conservation or recovery in England? |
| Response: | Yes |
| Justification: | Currently regarded as DD on the England Red List (Stroh et al. 2014), but there are just over 30 post-2000 sites in England (ca. 19 around Cronkley Fell and ca. 13 in the Scafell Pike and Helvellyn areas of the Lake District) and these deserve resurvey to assess current status of populations and habitat conditions, allowing a full assessment of threat to be made. |
| Question 2: | Does recovery/ conservation depend on species-specific actions? |
| Response: | No |
| Justification: | It is likely that this species will benefit from reintroduction to suitable receptor sites once habitat is brought into suitable condition. It therefore depends on careful collection of seed from known donor 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: | Yes |
| Justification: | The species requires very open, sparsely-vegetated upland grassland habitats that can be improved by appropriate extensive grazing of upland pastures in areas where it still occurs. |
Species Assessment
Not relevant as no Key Actions defined.
Key Actions
No Key Actions Defined
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.