Smooth Cat's-ear (Hypochaeris glabra)
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: | Hypochaeris glabra |
| 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: | No |
| Justification: | Hypochaeris glabra declined historically as a result of agricultural improvement and an absence of grazing, resulting in a threat assessment of VU in GB and England based on a decline of >30%. However, using the latest atlas data, it now appears to be stable and even spreading in some areas (trend 1987-2019; +30%), and no longer qualifies as threatened. It might be benefitting from warmer winters, and also the accidental transfer of seeds in building materials to new locations. The species will be assessed as LC for the next GB Red List (Stroh et al., in prep), and c.90% of the distribution is in England, so it is highly probable that it will also be assessed as LC in a future England Red List revision, and consequently there are other species with a higher priority for conservation action. |
| Question 2: | Does recovery/ conservation depend on species-specific actions? |
| Response: | No |
| Justification: | Although there was extensive decline historically, its distribution has stabilised/increased in recent decades, with many new locations found. In fact, it is now present in more hectads (195) than at any time during the past 100 years). |
| 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: | This species appears to be spreading to new locations without the intervention of targeted conservation initiatives. However, it would likely use new broadly suitable habitat particularly in early stages of restoration, and so may benefit from general work to create areas of early successional habitat, as would many other small plant species of open niches |
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.