Hairy Stonecrop (Sedum villosum)
Key Details
| Taxonomic Groups: | Vascular plant > flowering plant > Herbaceous plant |
| Red List Status: | Near Threatened (Not Relevant) [NT(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: | Sedum villosum |
| 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: | Yes |
| Justification: | VU in England; a very localised species in England and recorded recently in only about 80 sites (based on the number of 100 m grid cell records in the BSBI's database) in Northumberland, North Pennines and the Yorkshire Dales. It is nowhere common and populations are small and vulnerable grazing levels and changes in management in upland pastures. |
| Question 2: | Does recovery/ conservation depend on species-specific actions? |
| Response: | Yes |
| Justification: | This species has undergone a steady but significant decline in Britain largely due to overgrazing and the drainage ('gripping') of upland pastures and moorlands to improve grazing or for commercial forestry. these activities have led to a loss of or degradation of its flush habitat. Anecdotal evidence suggests that the removal of pressures can lead to the recovery of populations. |
| 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 is confined to flushes and mires within larger pastures and so would require more targeted intervention. |
Species Assessment
| Current step on the Species Recovery Curve (SRC): | 4. Autecology and pressures understood |
| Recovery potential/expectation: | Medium-high |
| National Monitoring Resource: | Combination - insufficient |
| Species Comments: | There has been no targeted survey of populations in England although a sample of sites were visited during the BSBI's Threatened Plants Project |
Key Actions
Key Action 1
Proposed Action: Undertake targeted surveys to assess population sizes, habitats, condition and threats
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:
Comments:
Key Action 2
Proposed Action: Identify key populations in England and seek to ensure that they are adequately protected and managed (light grazing in winter, spring, autumn).
Action targets: 5. Remedial action identified
Action type: Advice & support
Duration: 3-5 years
Scale of Implementation: ≤ 20 sites
High priority sites:
Comments:
Key Action 3
Proposed Action: Investigate habitat suitability under future climate change (has been lost from some lower altitudes montane sites)
Action targets: 4. Autecology and pressures understood
Action type: Scientific research
Duration: 1 year
Scale of Implementation: ≤ 50 sites
High priority sites:
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.