Milk-parsley (Thyselium palustre)
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: | Thysselinum palustre |
| UKSI Recommended Authority: | (L.) Hoffm. |
| 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: | Assessed as VU in England by Stroh et al. (2014) due to a 47% decline in AOO. |
| Question 2: | Does recovery/ conservation depend on species-specific actions? |
| Response: | Yes |
| Justification: | Most extant sites are now in nature reserves, where occasional mowing, grazing or reed-cutting favours its survival and spread. |
| 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 is a nationally rare species, with poor dispersal capacity, and is unlikely to colonise new locations. |
Species Assessment
| Current step on the Species Recovery Curve (SRC): | 4. Autecology and pressures understood |
| Recovery potential/expectation: | Medium-high |
| National Monitoring Resource: | Opportunistic - sufficient |
| Species Comments: |
Key Actions
Key Action 1
Proposed Action: Undertake a review of sites where the species has been lost in the past two decades, focusing on management, hydrology, and the differences between extant and lost locations.
Action targets: 4. Autecology and pressures understood
Action type: Scientific research
Duration: 1 year
Scale of Implementation: ≤ 10 sites
High priority sites: Locations in East Anglia
Comments:
Key Action 2
Proposed Action: Trial best practice management at sites where the species was extant in the recent past
Action targets: 5. Remedial action identified
Action type: Habitat management
Duration: 3-5 years
Scale of Implementation: ≤ 10 sites
High priority sites: Locations in East Anglia, including Burgh Common, Hickling Broad, Rollesby Broad, Filby Common (all East Norfolk), Barnby Broad & Marshes, Walberswick NNR (East Suffolk), Foulden Common (West Norfolk),
Comments:
Key Action 3
Proposed Action: Trial introductions at key locations; in Fenland, link remnant locations with the target of creating c. 20 new core populations if suitable habitat is present for introductions.
Action targets: 6. Recovery solutions trialled
Action type: (Re-)introduction
Duration: 3-5 years
Scale of Implementation: ≤ 10 sites
High priority sites: To be determined following actions 1 and 2.
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.