Proliferous Pink (Petrorhagia prolifera)
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: | Petrorhagia prolifera |
| UKSI Recommended Authority: | (L.) P.W.Ball & Heywood |
| 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: | This is questionable as Atlas 2000 treats it as a neophyte; it is accordingly not red-listed. However, some argue that is a native in Norfolk; it is restricted to v small number of sites. Highly variable population |
| Question 2: | Does recovery/ conservation depend on species-specific actions? |
| Response: | Yes |
| Justification: | Only known to occur in large numbers after management; can disperse semi-naturally but populations don’t tend to persist |
| 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: | Works to generate large areas of mobile open chalky-sand would benefit it, with the wind being the main dispersal vector |
Species Assessment
| Current step on the Species Recovery Curve (SRC): | 7. Best approach adopted at appropriate scales |
| Recovery potential/expectation: | Low - Relict or natural rarity |
| National Monitoring Resource: | Structured - sufficient |
| Species Comments: |
Key Actions
Key Action 1
Proposed Action: Scrape off half of vegetation (in patches) in trackside ditches at main site on biennial rotation
Action targets: 7. Best approach adopted at appropriate scales
Action type: Habitat management
Duration: >10 years
Scale of Implementation: 1 site
High priority sites: Cranwich camp, Norfolk
Comments:
Key Action 2
Proposed Action: Introduce plant to suitable site to build resilience
Action targets: 6. Recovery solutions trialled
Action type: Pressure mitigation
Duration: 1 year
Scale of Implementation: 1 site
High priority sites:
Comments: One intro recommended as a trial
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.