Sand Crocus (Romulea columnae)
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: | Romulea columnae |
| UKSI Recommended Authority: | Sebast. & Mauri |
| 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: | Confined to two localities in England - on two rock outcrops at Polruan on Cornish cliffs & in fixed dune turf at Dawlish, Devon. The Cornish site is threatened by the recent removal of grazing from cliff slopes. |
| Question 2: | Does recovery/ conservation depend on species-specific actions? |
| Response: | Yes |
| Justification: | Targeted scrub clearance & reinstatement of grazing needed specifically for this species at Cornish site |
| 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: | No |
| Justification: | This species would not benefit from untargeted management |
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: | Well-known & visited at Dawlish location. Only recently rediscovered in Cornwall in 2002, after over 120 years apparent absence. The latter locality has declined in numbers through fencing off of 2 rock outcrops shortly after rediscovery |
Key Actions
Key Action 1
Proposed Action: Liaison with owner and tenant at Cornish location to reinstate grazing on to two known outcrops & expand scrub clearance & cliff slope grazing to link known colonies to nearby outcrops isolated by scrub.
Action targets: 5. Remedial action identified
Action type: Habitat management
Duration: 2 years
Scale of Implementation: 1 site
High priority sites: Polruan cliffs
Comments:
Key Action 2
Proposed Action: Monitor species at both known native sites every 1 - 3 years (particularly Cornish site) to assess status of species at both sites & to ensure favourable management conditions persist (both of vegetation management & of visitor pressure)
Action targets: 3. National Monitoring Plan agreed and implemented
Action type: Targeted monitoring
Duration: >10 years
Scale of Implementation: ≤ 5 sites
High priority sites: Polruan to Polperro SSSI. Dawlish Warren SSSI
Comments: Management should be amended to take account of monitoring & assessment/review of results
Key Action 3
Proposed Action: Establish ex-situ stock through restricted seed collection from both UK sites, if currently poorly represented.
Action targets: 5. Remedial action identified
Action type: Ex situ conservation
Duration: 2 years
Scale of Implementation: ≤ 5 sites
High priority sites: Polruan to Polperro SSSI. Dawlish Warren SSSI
Comments:
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.