Perfoliate Penny-cress (Microthlaspi perfoliatum)
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: | Microthlaspi perfoliatum |
| UKSI Recommended Authority: | (L.) F.K.Mey. |
| 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: | VU in England and undergoing continued strong decline |
| Question 2: | Does recovery/ conservation depend on species-specific actions? |
| Response: | Yes |
| Justification: | Many populations are conservation dependent |
| 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 would benefit from the periodic creation of bare and disturbed ground as part of a range of habitats on calcareous soils. |
Species Assessment
| Current step on the Species Recovery Curve (SRC): | 6. Recovery solutions trialled |
| Recovery potential/expectation: | Medium-high |
| National Monitoring Resource: | Combination - insufficient |
| Species Comments: |
Key Actions
Key Action 1
Proposed Action: Monitor all populations, recording demographic data, habitat condition and response to management practices. Use this to review the success of management trials.
Action targets: 5. Remedial action identified
Action type: Targeted monitoring
Duration: 1 year
Scale of Implementation: ≤ 20 sites
High priority sites:
Comments: Annual action
Key Action 2
Proposed Action: Create open areas of nutrient-poor limestone scree/rubble/brash or soil at extant and historic sites. Management to achieve this may involve scrub clearance, turf stripping, scrape creation, cultivation and rotavation. On sites where it occurs on soil rather than scree, creation of bare ground should be undertaken at least every other year, ideally annually along arable margins.
Action targets: 7. Best approach adopted at appropriate scales
Action type: Habitat management
Duration: 1 year
Scale of Implementation: ≤ 20 sites
High priority sites:
Comments: Annual action. Includes monitoring of species response to habitat management.
Key Action 3
Proposed Action: Connect and expand extant populations through targeted calcareous grassland creation with areas of skeletal soil and quarry restoration, and translocations to these sites.
Action targets: 7. Best approach adopted at appropriate scales
Action type: (Re-)introduction
Duration: >10 years
Scale of Implementation: ≤ 20 sites
High priority sites: Barton Bushes SSSI
Comments: Requires sourcing suitable material for translocation, probably necessitating ex-situ propagation to bulk up seed. Ongoing monitoring of translocation sites needed after the duration of the action.
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.