Many species such as fen ragwort and wood calamint have been discovered on road verges. In fact, fen ragwort manages to hang on to just one spot adjacent to a burger van in Cambridgeshire.
There are other plants such as sulfur clover, crested cow-wheat, and wood bitter-vetch. They have all lost a number of habitats in meadows, pastures or woodlands. They are now found most often on road verges, according to The Telegraph.
Hence, totally, UK's road verges host almost 700 species of wild plants. Out of these, one in eight (12 per cent) face the threat of extinction or seem to be going in that direction, indicates the conservation charity, Plantlife.
Many of these road verges are basically just small parts of wildflower-rich ancient hay meadows and grasslands. A few of these were lost in the country since the 1930s. Other coastal plants were found in motorways and A-roads that are salted during the winters.
As sources of nectar and pollen, the wildflowers give refuge to reducing species of bees, butterflies, birds, bats and bugs. Plants such as bird's foot trefoil, which was a source of food for 160 species of insects, were also discovered on many of road verges.
Plantlife discloses that the top 10 threatened species are growing on Britain's road verges. It requires improved verge management and more protection for wildflowers and plants. Road verges help to link with nature. The flowers right from bluebells to knapweed give color as well as a glimpse into all the seasons of the year.
Trevor Dines, Plantlife's botanical specialist, also talked about conservation on road verges: "Only one native site remains but, unlike lady's slipper orchid, which also grows in a single native site and receives round-the-clock protection when in flower, this poor plant flounders in an unprepossessing roadside drainage ditch beside the A142 near Ely, Cambridgeshire, where it is at risk from discarded debris."
