New Species (for me) of Vascular Plants Found in Cornwall in 2025

 After a few year living in Cornwall, I didn't expect to be able to continue my end of year blog on new plant species seen. I would have thought that after a while, there would only be a few species left to see, however, that's not the case. There are thousands of plant species worldwide, with many escaping gardens and finding a niche in the milder, oceanic climate of Cornwall; add in a few native species that somehow eluded me over the years and it turns out there are plenty of new species to fill this blog with. I'll start with the few native species I've found here and then list the non natives.

 

Bugle isn't strictly a new species, however, this is the first time I've found the named white flowered form. The flowers are usually a deep blue often with a purplish tinge, though in Kent, I found a few bright pink flowers, but never white. I found the ones below on a trackside verge on The Lizard heathlands. 

Bugle is usually a woodland species over much of the UK, however, here it is found on Cornish Hedges, trackways and paths as well as in older woodlands. In the open habitats, they tend to be small, as here.

Ajuga reptans forma albiflora 

 

Sedges and rushes will also feature on new species blogs, as each year I try and memorise a few more of each and take time to study them so I can identify them again in the future more easily. One such sedge was Bottle Sedge, with many in a pond on the The Lizard heathlands.

Carex rostrata

 

My next find was an aquatic plant and a first confirmed find for Cornwall, which is always nice.

I was walking along a farm track with boggy woodland on one side and a Cornish Hedge on the other. After a while, I came to a dip in the path and rainwater had collected into a series of small pools. I noticed some duckweeds floating on these pools and collected some to examine. It was quite obvious to me they were Fat Duckweed, with easy to see air sacs in the fronds and a single root hanging down. Sideways on they looked triangular - all very much not like Common or Small Duckweed. When I got home, I found that Fat Duckweed had never been confirmed in Cornwall and previous records had been rejected. This is probably because if the plant is young, it can look almost identical to Common Duckweed unless viewed under high magnification to measure the air sacs. However, my specimens were fully developed and I send photos to the BSBI Lemna referee who confirmed the find. Hopefully, old records may be revisited and re-determined. Now we know it's in Cornwall, perhaps recorders will start looking for it?

Lemna gibba

My last native plant found was a Dock hybrid. I'm sure I have walked past many such hybrids and not realised it (as have many others too I suspect). On this occasion, I noticed a peculiar looking Dock plant on some wasteground at Cargreen Quay. It was peculiar in that the leaves were much like Broad-leaved Dock, but some leaves were also wavy and with crispy edges, much like Curled Dock. The bracteoles were an odd shape and the nutlets looked mostly abortive.

Given my inexperience with hybrid docks, I again sent photos to one of the BSBI Rumex referees who confirmed it as the hybrid between Curled and Broad-leaved Docks. So if a plant looks "off" look a bit harder, in more depth and you may have a hybrid plant in front of you.

Rumex x pratensis

 

I now move on to the new species of non native plants that I have found naturalised in the wild in Cornwall. I suspect I'll continue finding new non natives for some years to come as the climate warms.

Back in March, I found what I presumed was a Monkshood plant growing on the edge of Chapel Amble marshes. As it wasn't in flower, I returned in early May to find it in all its glory. This form is a garden escape self sown into the wild, though there is a native subspecies too. I have read that Monkshood is a very poisonous plant, so I didn't even touch any part of it. It certainly looks an amazing plant.

Aconitum napellus subsp vulgare 

 

Also in May, I took a short walk along the Camel Trail near Padstow, where I noticed a very tall grass with large drooping stems and spikelets over 3cm long. I took a sample home and spent a long time keying it in Stace and a comprehensive grasses book and found it to be Rescue Brome. I later realised, it had been recorded here before, so I could have saved myself a lot of time by checking records in that area first for an alien grass and using that to narrow down my search. It was an impressive grass and I took a bit home to key it out and it now resides in my herbarium. It originated in South America, but you can read all about how it came to the UK and its distribution here - https://plantatlas2020.org/atlas/2cd4p9h.x6

 Ceratochloa cathartica

 

I was walking near the beaches in Newquay and noticed a Cabbage Palm growing out of a wall, some 5-6 feet up, self sown, as the photo below clearly shows.. I'd not seen this naturalised before, but it is a common sight in gardens and parks here. I suspect there is very little frost on Newquay beach over the Winter months, enabling such plants to survive. They can grow to several metres tall with many stems. This one below is a variegated variety that I have since seen for sale in the big retail stores like Home Bargains and The Range.

Cordyline australis "variegata"

 

Also in Newquay, but also seen draping a coastal wall in Perranporth, was the Purple Dewplant. The leaves look like little greeny yellow jelly beans and they form a carpet over cliffs and walls. I haven't managed to find one in flower yet, but the inset photo shows dead flowers on the leaves, unsurprising since I found it in February. This was first recorded growing wild in 1936 on Tresco (Isles of Scilly). It had been recorded from Cornwall to Kent along the coast and around Anglesey.

 Disphyma crassifolium

 

There is a new tourist attraction at Colliford Lake called the Kerdroya. It's a labyrinth with the walls made up of all the different types of Cornish Hedges found in the county. As such, stone and earth that fills the gaps, has been transported here from all over the county. I have already found many new species to the area, such as the flesh coloured flower form of Scarlet Pimpernel usually found on The Lizard, Alsike Clover and urban plants such as Water Bent. However, I didn't expect to find Purple Bugloss growing out of one of the walls. It's a garden variety called "Blue Bedder".

Echium plantagineum "Blue Bedder" 

On a walk around the coast path at West Pentire, I found an old knarly small tree that had clearly been there many years on the cliffs, but had not been recorded before. Helpfully, it was in flower (see inset below) and this helped me quickly idenitfy it as a Thorny Olive (Spiny Oleaster) Tree.

Elaeagnus pungens

 

 Prickly Heath is a medium sized bushy plant and grows on acidic soils. I came across a relict of acidic heathland near Stenalees in mid Cornwall in mid December. Heather, Bell Heather and Gorse dominated and in between them was a single bush of this species. Of course, it wasn't in flower, but the fruits are distinctive, being a slightly flattened orb. It was probably bird sown.

 Gaultheria mucronata

 

 I found the next species on a rural road verge amongst nettles and the like, however, the origin of its seed was clearly from a nearby garden, in which I could see it flowering. This is the commonest type of naturalisation seen by botanists recording alien species, and until it can be shown that they can self seed and continue to persist and spread in the wild, they are known as "casuals". The one below is Purple Gromwell.

Glandora diffusa 

 

 There are lots of St. John's-worts in the horticultural world and occasionaly some escape into the wild. When I first found this one atop a wall by a car park near Millbrook, I was stumped as to what it was as it was in seed with no flowers present. However, my VCR recognised it from his Mediterranean travels as Olympic St. John's-wort and when I compared my sample to the books, it was. This was another Cornwall first record, so I was (again) very pleased to find it.

Hypericum olympicum

 

A sandy alleyway with houses on one side and Bude golf course on the other had a lovely Honeysucke flowering along it. It was a large bush at least 3 metres tall with many blooms. This was a Fly Honeysuckle. It was growing in a wild area, but it was likely a garden throw out that has persisted.

 Lonicera xylosteum

 

Pink Sorrel is a very common garden escape that has colonised road verges and waste areas and even some woodlands here. I had always wondered how best to separate it from Pale Pink Sorrel (should I find it) if no flowers were present. However, I found the latter growing six feet up a house wall in Hessenford with flowers to confirm its identity. Most striking to me was the pale sickly green/yellow colouring of the leaves, easily distinguishing it from Pink Sorrel, which has very green leaves.

Oxalis incarnata

 

Canary Grass is commonly found in wild bird seed mixes and thus often naturalises near where birds are fed. Surprisingly, I'd not come across it before, until I found some on a woodland ride. I had no idea how it got there as it wasn't near houses and there were no other alien species in the vicinity. However, all became clear when I turned a corner in the woodland and saw that someone had hung a few bird feeders from the branches. I wonder how long it will persist in such an environment?

Phalaris canariensis

 

In Cornwall, the dominant Shield Fern is the Soft Shield Fern, with the Hard Shield Fern being quite rare. As such, I keep an eye out for the Hard Shield Fern.  Whilst walking the lanes near Lanlivery, I saw what initially looked like a Hard Shield Fern, but on closer examination, something was off. I asked my VCR for guidance and he said I had found a Japanese Shield Fern, only the 7th ever record of it in Cornwall.

 Polystichum polyblepharum

 

Surprisingly, I had another first record for Cornwall with Common Rue. This is a garden plant, but it had self seeded from a garden that was high up onto the pavement below, with tiny plants growing in the pavement. Another Casual most likely. The flowers in the photo below are from the planted parent plant nearby.

Ruta graveolens 

 

The next new species of vascular plant found in Cornwall was an unconfirmed Turkish or Spanish Stonecrop. It was found on a Cornwall Botany Group field trip carpeting a centuries old lawn at Cawsand Fort. I sent photos to the BSBI referee, but without flowers it could be one or the other species. I was told that this is how you tell them apart (both are perennials):

S. pallidum  = strictly 5-partite flowers

S. hispanicum = 6+ partite flowers.

So, I will have to return in 2026 to try and see them in flower to be sure. Both species would be new to me in any case.

Sedum pallidum or S. hispanicum

 

On the 28th December, I recorded Stithians in West Cornwall, not expecting to find much, given the recent heavy frosts and cold NE winds of the last week. However, one of the pavement plants that had escaped from nearby gardens was Perennial Candytuft, flowering nicely. I'd seen Annual Candytuft before in Kent; that had toothed leaves and smaller flowers and was a smaller plant overall, unsurprising given it's an annual. Perennial Candytuft has similar (but larger) flowers with the lower two petals much larger than the upper ones, but its leaves are linear lanceolate without teeth and the stems turn woody over time.

Iberis sempervirens

 

That concludes all the new species of plants I have found growing or naturalised in the wild in Cornwall over the last year. I hope you found it interesting. Each county will have its own flora and of course, garden escapes can turn up anywhere, so keep your eyes peeled for the unusual. I'll finish with a cheeky (new for me) non native fungus that we found on a Cornwall Botany Group field trip on the Bodmin Moor in August. 

 Devils Fingers - Clathrus archeri 

 

My next blog will be on new UK species I've seen outside of Cornwall, until then, take care.

Dave