White Rock-rose (Helianthemum apenninum)
Key Details
| Taxonomic Groups: | Vascular plant > flowering plant > Shrub/sub-shrub |
| 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: | Helianthemum apenninum |
| UKSI Recommended Authority: | (L.) Mill. |
| 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 GB & England. Confined to two areas in Britain - the western Mendips & Torbay limestones. Locally abundant, but with small & localised populations away from the main populations |
| Question 2: | Does recovery/ conservation depend on species-specific actions? |
| Response: | Yes |
| Justification: | Populations at some sites highly localised (in some cases to a few square metres): these sites would benefit from targeted action to clear scrub & gorse, etc |
| 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: | Large population occur at Brean Down (Mendips) and Berry Head (Torbay limestones). Smaller populations exist at three further locations. Responds well to management, germinating freely from buried seed following scrub clearance. Intense summer droughts & heavy levels of sheep grazing can damage populations, which typically recover quickly under better conditions. |
Key Actions
Key Action 1
Proposed Action: Monitor isolated populations at smaller sites on a 5 yearly basis, recording number of flowering plants, presence of seedlings, vegetation structure, threats (e.g. from non-native invasives) etc
Action targets: 3. National Monitoring Plan agreed and implemented
Action type: Status survey/review
Duration: 3-5 years
Scale of Implementation: ≤ 5 sites
High priority sites: Berry Head to Sharkham Point SSSI. Daddyhole SSSI. Hope's Nose to Wall's Hill SSSI. Brean Down SSSI. Purn Hill SSSI.
Comments: Monitoring should be used to review state of population & quality of habitat, & inform future management decisions.
Key Action 2
Proposed Action: Maximise area available for colonisation by H. apenninum through programme of active management of extant sites, & restoration / linkage with nearby 'lost' populations through scrub clearance, appropriate levels of grazing & linkage of microhabitats favoured by this species. Research should be undertaken into best grazing stock to maintain this species & other rarer species for which these sites are of national importance.
Action targets: 6. Recovery solutions trialled
Action type: Habitat management
Duration: 3-5 years
Scale of Implementation: ≤ 5 sites
High priority sites: Berry Head to Sharkham Point SSSI. Daddyhole SSSI. Hope's Nose to Wall's Hill SSSI. Brean Down SSSI. Purn Hill SSSI.
Comments: Species typically confined to rather restricted populations at some sites such as Daddyhole SSSI - which in some cases cover just a few square metres & are threatened by encroachment of scrub & coarse grasses / forbs.
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.