Chalk Eyebright (Euphrasia pseudokerneri)
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: | Euphrasia pseudokerneri |
| UKSI Recommended Authority: | Pugsley |
| 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 VU in England, with 46% decline in Area of Occupancy & 48% decline in extent of occurrence. |
| Question 2: | Does recovery/ conservation depend on species-specific actions? |
| Response: | Yes |
| Justification: | Recovery will generally be through habitat-based management approaches, but some research needed specifically for species, and species may benefit from local introduction through green hay / hand collection & sowing |
| 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: | Appropriate management of chalk grasslands (maintain moderate to heavy grazing regimes) & expansion / linkage of sites likely to help E. pseudokerneri |
Species Assessment
| Current step on the Species Recovery Curve (SRC): | 5. Remedial action identified |
| Recovery potential/expectation: | Medium-high |
| National Monitoring Resource: | Opportunistic - insufficient |
| Species Comments: | Requires short open chalk grassland for survival, alongside other short growing , threatened grassland species |
Key Actions
Key Action 1
Proposed Action: Sample survey sites across England range (within & outside centres of distribution) to assess current state of national population, & state of sites
Action targets: 3. National Monitoring Plan agreed and implemented
Action type: Status survey/review
Duration: 2 years
Scale of Implementation: ≤ 50 sites
High priority sites: Chilterns, South Downs, North Downs
Comments: Site conditions should be assessed, including vegetation height, build up of moss / humus layers & presence/intensity of grazing
Key Action 2
Proposed Action: Undertake research into suit of short-growing species to assess significant decline in wide range of species, including vegetation height, presence of pleurocarpous moss/litter thatch etc & grazing best practice
Action targets: 4. Autecology and pressures understood
Action type: Scientific research
Duration: 3-5 years
Scale of Implementation: ≤ 50 sites
High priority sites: Chilterns, Cotswolds, North & South Downs etc
Comments: Additional short growing species severely threatened in England include Antenarria dioica, Astragalus danicus, Coeloglossum viride, Herminium monorchis, Neotinea ustulata, Pulsatilla vulgaris, Tephroseris integrifolia etc.
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.