Summer Lady's-tresses (Spiranthes aestivalis)
Key Details
| Taxonomic Groups: | Vascular plant > flowering plant > Herbaceous plant |
| Red List Status: | Extinct (globally) (Not Relevant) [EX(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: | Spiranthes aestivalis |
| UKSI Recommended Authority: | (Poir.) Rich. |
| 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 species became extinct in Britian in 1959 and is suffering dramatic losses from across its range in NW Europe, mainly through drainage and a lack of management leading to vegetation succession. Although the picture across Europe is rather bleak, it is nonetheless worth considering a reintroduction to the New Forest (South Hampshire) now that sites and habitats there are being better managed, and to head off unofficial attempts at reintroduction using inappropriate or unknown source material & monitoring. |
| Question 2: | Does recovery/ conservation depend on species-specific actions? |
| Response: | Yes |
| Justification: | Reintroduction is the best possible mechanism at our disposal to bring this species back to Britain (natural dispersal by seed is possible but rather unlikely). |
| 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: | The species would need to be re-established in the wild first, but even if successful would only ever be restricted to a handful of suitable sites. |
Species Assessment
| Current step on the Species Recovery Curve (SRC): | 4. Autecology and pressures understood |
| Recovery potential/expectation: | Low - Extinction debt |
| National Monitoring Resource: | Structured - sufficient |
| Species Comments: |
Key Actions
Key Action 1
Proposed Action: Undertake a feasibility study to investigate potential for a reintroduction programme, to include assessment of potential site/habitat condition and management (former sites and new sites), origin of reintroduction material (likely to be seed or vegetative material from France), laboratory production and cultivation of reintroduction material, lessons from other attempts in Europe, and potential costs and risks of such a project.
Action targets: 5. Remedial action identified
Action type: (Re-)introduction
Duration: 2 years
Scale of Implementation: Unknown
High priority sites:
Comments: Further actions depend on outcome of the feasibility study. Last known sites include above Roman Arch (Warwick Slade) and Brick Kiln Inclosure, both near Lyndhurst.
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.