Threatened Linnaea Twinflower Seeds Deposited in Bank

Twinflower Linnaea borealis. (Photo: Plantlife, Scotland)

 

Kew's Millennium Seed Bank, the largest seed bank in the world dedicated to the conservation of endangered wild plant species, is safeguarding the seeds of Linnaea borealis (Twinflower), named after eminent Swedish botanist Carl Linnaeus. The distribution of this species in the UK is restricted to pine woodland in Scotland and has declined considerably owing to habitat loss and fragmentation of its populations. Climate change is expected to have adverse impacts on its habitat in the future. Consequently, Twinflower is a priority species listed for action under the UK Biodiversity Action Plan, with Plantlife International, the wild plant conservation charity, acting as Lead Partner in efforts to secure its conservation.

The Millennium Seed Bank has already saved seed from 96 per cent of the UK's wild flora. With 68 species still to collect, including Linnaea borealis, it has been working in partnership with Plantlife to locate the flower and harvest seed for conservation in its underground vaults in West Sussex.

Simon Linington, head of curation at the Millennium Seed Bank, commented: "We are delighted to receive this collection of Twinflower seed from Plantlife which will be kept in our freezer for use in the future, as and when required. It is especially gratifying that the collection should have been made this year, the 300th anniversary of the birth of Carl Linnaeus, whose name has become synonymous with botanical classification."

Previously recorded from old pine plantings in northern England, Twinflower is now extinct in this area. Today, it is entirely confined to Scotland, found in about 50 locations from Caithness to the Borders with a concentration around the Cairngorms. Local volunteers, working with Plantlife, harvested Twinflower from two sites in Scotland for deposit in the Millennium Seed Bank. Plantlife works to conserve wild plants in their native habitats through practical conservation action and habitat restoration, and recognises that seed banks are a necessary fall-back in case of extinctions in the wild.

There are a number of factors causing loss or decline of Linnaea borealis. As the species grows primarily on podsolic soils, it is usually found in native pine woodlands, a habitat listed as a priority by the EU Habitats Directive 1992. Severe losses of twinflower occurred in the early twentieth century, with the clearance of native pine woodland. Since then populations have become fragmented and isolated, with modern timber management techniques that can be inappropriate for pinewood herb conservation. Twinflower is a creeping, woody perennial that is shallow-rooting and susceptible to drought, which makes it particularly vulnerable should climate change cause temperatures to increase. Another key factor is that the plant mainly reproduces vegetatively in Scotland and in recent years has produced only small amounts of seeds in isolated populations that do not facilitate cross-pollination.

"The survival of Linnaea borealis in the UK is under considerable threat," said Dr. Deborah Long, Conservation Officer for Plantlife Scotland. "Plantlife's aim is to achieve self-sustaining populations of the species at all existing sites and ensure these populations are capable of sexual reproduction. We are conducting management trials and giving advice on how to manage Twinflower populations so that they can survive and thrive into the long term. However, depositing seed in The Millennium Seed Bank is an insurance policy that the species will never become extinct and we will work with Kew to add to the seed collection over the coming years in order to increase both the quantity and the genetic diversity." ”

(19th November 2007)