One of nation's rarest plants rescued by conservationists in Somerset
The starved wood-sedge is only found in two native sites across the UK
Last updated 24th Dec 2025
Conservationists have stepped in to rescue one of the nation's rarest plants after it "rather catastrophically decided" to grow on a public footpath.
The starved wood-sedge is only found in two native sites across the UK, one of which is at Axbridge in Somerset, where a small cluster of plants has been clinging on to survival along a path edge near a woodland.
The Species Recovery Trust has been caring for the starved wood-sedge for more than two decades to help it back from critically low levels, which saw it considered the rarest plant in the UK.
But the trust, which aims to help some of the UK's most endangered species back from the brink of extinction, said the plants at the Somerset site faced a new threat after they shifted from their habitat on the bank and on to the footpath.
Dominic Price, director of the trust, said: "In the last few years the plants have unfortunately, and rather catastrophically, decided to move off the bankside habitat we have maintained for them, and started growing directly on a public footpath.
"This has put them directly in harm's way from being trampled."
So the trust decided to remove the plants from the track and take them into "captivity" in a specialist plant nursery facility, to allow them to be propagated and "bulked up" by splitting the clumps and growing the sections into fully grown plants that can recolonise the site.
The trust also hopes to use the rescued starved wood-sedge plants to create two new populations within the Mendip Hills National Landscape, in sites where they will be safe from harm.
The "unassuming" grass-like species is typically found in wetland habitats such as bogs, fens and swamps, as well as damp woodland edges.
Conservationists said its flowers, with both male and female blooms on the same plant, are small and inconspicuous but still attract a variety of insect pollinators.
The starved wood-sedge also provides habitat for insects, amphibians and birds, and plays an important role in wetlands, where it regulates water flow and the recycling of nutrients in the habitat, experts said.
Its decline is down to loss and fragmentation of habitat, and it is only found in two native sites - in Somerset and Surrey - and a scattering of reintroduction sites.
The project to help the Somerset population has been made possible with funding by the Mendip Hills National Landscape team, whose manager Jim Hardcastle said: "Nature recovery is key to our work these days so it's great that we can help the Species Recovery Trust in their important work.
"At first glance this is quite an unassuming grass that many people will have walked past for years but it's still an important part of the ecosystem and deserving of our attention and support."
The Species Recovery Trust aims to remove 50 species from the edge of extinction in the UK by 2050, including animals such as the New Forest cicada, the green tiger beetle and species in UK Overseas Territories, as well as plants including field gentians, Welsh groundsel and marsh clubmoss.