Davall's Sedge (Carex davalliana)
Key Details
| Taxonomic Groups: | Vascular plant > flowering plant > Sedge |
| 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: | Carex davalliana |
| UKSI Recommended Authority: | Sm. |
| 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 is regionally extinct, formerly known from a single site near to Bath where it survived into the 1830s but had gone by the 1850s as a result of drainage. There is a suggestion that this species could be recoverable from fen peat at its historic location. This should be investigated. Reintroduction using non-native sources is inappropriate but recovery from the native source should be explored. |
| Question 2: | Does recovery/ conservation depend on species-specific actions? |
| Response: | Yes |
| Justification: | A targeted project would be required to investigate restoring this species from fen peat at its former sole native location |
| 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: | Untargeted actions will not benefit this species |
Species Assessment
| Current step on the Species Recovery Curve (SRC): | 5. Remedial action identified |
| Recovery potential/expectation: | Unknown |
| National Monitoring Resource: | Combination - sufficient |
| Species Comments: |
Key Actions
Key Action 1
Proposed Action: Identify the precise native location, sample fen peat for seed viability of associates. Investigate whether the species can be germinated from buried fen peat at its historic location. This will require coring peat samples at its last known location. Research will be needed to locate the exact spot and a greenhouse germination trial once samples are collected.
Action targets: 6. Recovery solutions trialled
Action type: Scientific research
Duration: 2 years
Scale of Implementation: 1 site
High priority sites: Lansdown, Bath
Comments:
Key Action 2
Proposed Action: If Carex davalliana is found cultivate ex-situ and reintroduce to suitable locations.
Action targets: 7. Best approach adopted at appropriate scales
Action type: (Re-)introduction
Duration: 3-5 years
Scale of Implementation: ≤ 5 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.