Small-leaved Sweet-briar (Rosa agrestis)
Key Details
| Taxonomic Groups: | Vascular plant > flowering plant > Shrub/sub-shrub |
| 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: | Rosa agrestis |
| UKSI Recommended Authority: | Savi |
| 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 is probably our rarest Rosa species, assessed as NT in England (Stroh et al. 2014) on the basis of the total population being less than 10,000 plants. Sites are often small and widely scattered, and many have been lost to ploughing, undergrazing (leading to scrub encroachment) and over-zealous clearing of scrub. The species is still poorly understood, but deserves some effort to understand and conserve it, especially as it occupies an unusual habitat (marginal and transitional scrub/hedgerows/grassland on chalk and limestone) that doesn't normally receive conservation attention. |
| Question 2: | Does recovery/ conservation depend on species-specific actions? |
| Response: | Yes |
| Justification: | The species probably benefits from good management of its chalk and limestone transitional grassland/scrub habitats across much of its range but important isolated colonies (e.g. Norfolk) will require targeted project to restore habitat and 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: | Yes |
| Justification: | The transitional scrub/hedgerow/grassland habitats it occupies can be encouraged through wider landscape actions, such as provision of suitable grazing with large livestock and scrub control, both on protected and carefully managed sites as well as on unprotected agricultural land. |
Species Assessment
| Current step on the Species Recovery Curve (SRC): | 2. Biological status assessment exists |
| Recovery potential/expectation: | Medium-high |
| National Monitoring Resource: | Opportunistic - insufficient |
| Species Comments: | Although the distribution is now much better mapped (Stroh et al. 2023), this species is still a poorly understood and we are, to all intents and purposes, near the beginning of its' species recovery curve. |
Key Actions
Key Action 1
Proposed Action: Survey a sample of sites in its core areas (North Somerset limestones & chalk downland in Wiltshire & Dorset) as well as scattered sites (e.g. in Norfolk, Sussex, Kent, Worcestershire, Cheshire) to assess population size and structure, habitat condition and threats, and actions needed to conserve the species.
Action targets: 2. Biological status assessment exists
Action type: Status survey/review
Duration: 2 years
Scale of Implementation: ≤ 20 sites
High priority sites:
Comments: Note the Norfolk population is an important outlier location associated with a SSSI chalk pit
Key Action 2
Proposed Action: Use results of A1 to identify key sites/areas for habitat conservation and implement programme of habitat management (likely to involve using grazing and scrub control to improve and regenerate grassland/scrub transitions).
Action targets: 5. Remedial action identified
Action type: Habitat management
Duration: 6-10 years
Scale of Implementation: ≤ 20 sites
High priority sites:
Comments:
Key Action 3
Proposed Action: Encourage searching for, and recording of Rosa agrestis to improve knowledge of its distribution. This can be provided through BSBI Recorder workshops and targeted field meetings in key areas/habitats where it occurs (capitalising on the publication of the new Rosa handbook in 2025), but also wider opportunistic surveying to pick up very small, isolated populations (often single plants) through articles within BSBI publications.
Action targets: 3. National Monitoring Plan agreed and implemented
Action type: Education/awareness raising
Duration: 6-10 years
Scale of Implementation: Unknown
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.