Experts from Natural England, the conservation oversight agency in the UK, have successfully revived the yellow flower known as York groundsel, which had been extinct since 1991.
York groundsel is a yellow flower belonging to the daisy family that was declared globally extinct in 1991 due to excessive herbicide use in York, England. However, this flower has now been brought back to life and is blooming again in York. The Guardian notes that this marks the first successful revival of an extinct plant species in the UK.
York groundsel was discovered growing in a parking lot at the York railway station in 1979. (Photo: Rare Plant Nursery, UK).
York groundsel was first identified in the parking lot of York railway station in 1979 and is the first newly evolved species in the UK in 50 years. However, the proliferation of this plant was short-lived, primarily due to urban land clearing and many people using chemicals to eliminate this flower, which was considered a “weed.”
The last sighting of York groundsel in the wild was in 1991. Fortunately, researchers had kept three small plants in pots on the windowsill at the University of York. Although these short-lived plants quickly perished, they produced a quantity of seeds that were sent to the Millennium Seed Bank.
Andrew Shaw, an expert at the Rare Plant Nursery in the UK, envisioned the revival of this species. However, during their initial attempts, very few seeds successfully germinated.
Thus, Natural England swiftly approved the revival efforts through a species recovery program. This program has funded the revival of the most threatened native species for the past 30 years.
Natural England financed a greenhouse at the Rare Plant Nursery in Wales, where 100 seeds were sown. To the surprise of botanists, 98 seeds successfully germinated. The greenhouse soon hosted 1,000 York groundsel plants.
In February, 6 grams of seeds were sown in special plots in York. This week, the first plants in the wild in 32 years have begun to bloom.
This may be the only instance of a revived extinct species in the UK, as York groundsel is the only British plant that has gone globally extinct while still existing in seed form, thus allowing for its revival.
Mr. Alex Prendergast, a specialist at Natural England, stated that there are many reasons to revive this plant species. One reason is that this plant flowers nearly every month of the year, providing significant value as a pollinator and nectar source.
