Guidance
Species-rich grassland: indicator species
Use this table to confirm the plant species that are typical of the grassland type on your land parcel for help with action GRH6: Manage priority habitat species-rich grassland.
Applies to England
Use this table to confirm the plant species that are typical of the grassland type on your land parcel. This can support you in carrying out action GRH6: Manage priority habitat species-rich grassland.
Table 1: Species-rich grassland: indicator species
| Species name | Grassland type |
|---|---|
| Betony | Lowland calcareous |
| Beautiful St John’s-wort | Lowland calcareous |
| Bird’s-foot-trefoil | Lowland calcareous |
| Biting stonecrop | Lowland calcareous |
| Bloody crane’s-bill | Lowland calcareous |
| Carline thistle | Lowland calcareous |
| Clustered bellflower | Lowland calcareous |
| Common agrimony | Lowland calcareous |
| Common rock-rose | Lowland calcareous |
| Cowslip | Lowland calcareous |
| Dropworts | Lowland calcareous |
| Devil’s-bit scabious | Lowland calcareous |
| Eyebright | Lowland calcareous |
| Fairy flax | Lowland calcareous |
| Field scabious | Lowland calcareous |
| Gentians | Lowland calcareous |
| Greater knapweed | Lowland calcareous |
| Hairy violet | Lowland calcareous |
| Harebell | Lowland calcareous |
| Hawkweed oxtongue | Lowland calcareous |
| Hoary plantain | Lowland calcareous |
| Hoary rock-rose | Lowland calcareous |
| Horseshoe vetch | Lowland calcareous |
| Kidney vetch | Lowland calcareous |
| Lady’s bedstraw | Lowland calcareous |
| Marjoram | Lowland calcareous |
| Milkworts | Lowland calcareous |
| Mouse-ear hawkweed | Lowland calcareous |
| Orchids | Lowland calcareous |
| Ox-eye daisy | Lowland calcareous |
| Purple milk-vetch | Lowland calcareous |
| Restharrow | Lowland calcareous |
| Rough or lesser hawkbit | Lowland calcareous |
| Sainfoin | Lowland calcareous |
| Salad burnet | Lowland calcareous |
| Saw-wort | Lowland calcareous |
| Small blue-green sedges | Lowland calcareous |
| Small scabious | Lowland calcareous |
| Squinancywort | Lowland calcareous |
| Stemless thistle | Lowland calcareous |
| Thyme-leaved sandwort | Lowland calcareous |
| Wild basil | Lowland calcareous |
| Wild thyme | Lowland calcareous |
| Yellow-wort | Lowland calcareous |
| Bell heather | Lowland dry acid |
| Betony | Lowland dry acid |
| Bilberry | Lowland dry acid |
| Bird’s-foot | Lowland dry acid |
| Bird’s-foot-trefoil | Lowland dry acid |
| Biting stonecrop | Lowland dry acid |
| Bitter-vetch | Lowland dry acid |
| Blue fleabane | Lowland dry acid |
| Buck’s-horn plantain | Lowland dry acid |
| Common centaury | Lowland dry acid |
| Common rock-rose | Lowland dry acid |
| Common stork’s-bill | Lowland dry acid |
| Devil’s-bit scabious | Lowland dry acid |
| Harebell | Lowland dry acid |
| Heath bedstraw | Lowland dry acid |
| Heath speedwell | Lowland dry acid |
| Heather | Lowland dry acid |
| Lady’s bedstraw | Lowland dry acid |
| Lichens | Lowland dry acid |
| Lousewort | Lowland dry acid |
| Maiden pink | Lowland dry acid |
| Milkworts | Lowland dry acid |
| Mouse-ear hawkweed | Lowland dry acid |
| Parsley pierts | Lowland dry acid |
| Pignut | Lowland dry acid |
| Purple milk-vetch | Lowland dry acid |
| Rough or lesser hawkbit | Lowland dry acid |
| Saw-wort | Lowland dry acid |
| Sheep’s-bit | Lowland dry acid |
| Sheep’s sorrel | Lowland dry acid |
| Shepherd’s-cress | Lowland dry acid |
| Thymes | Lowland dry acid |
| Tormentil | Lowland dry acid |
| Violets | Lowland dry acid |
| Wild strawberry | Lowland dry acid |
| Wood anemone | Lowland dry acid |
| Wood sage | Lowland dry acid |
| Agrimony | Lowland meadows (including floodplain meadows) |
| Autumn hawkbit (specific to floodplain meadows) | Lowland meadows (including floodplain meadows) |
| Betony | Lowland meadows (including floodplain meadows) |
| Bird’s-foot-trefoil | Lowland meadows (including floodplain meadows) |
| Bitter-vetch | Lowland meadows (including floodplain meadows) |
| Black knapweed | Lowland meadows (including floodplain meadows) |
| Bugle | Lowland meadows (including floodplain meadows) |
| Burnet saxifrage | Lowland meadows (including floodplain meadows) |
| Common bistort (specific to floodplain meadows) | Lowland meadows (including floodplain meadows) |
| Common meadow-rue (specific to floodplain meadows) | Lowland meadows (including floodplain meadows) |
| Corky-fruited water-dropwort | Lowland meadows (including floodplain meadows) |
| Cowslip | Lowland meadows (including floodplain meadows) |
| Devil’s-bit scabious (specific to floodplain meadows) | Lowland meadows (including floodplain meadows) |
| Dropwort | Lowland meadows (including floodplain meadows) |
| Dyer’s greenweed | Lowland meadows (including floodplain meadows) |
| Eyebright | Lowland meadows (including floodplain meadows) |
| Field scabious | Lowland meadows (including floodplain meadows) |
| Globeflower (specific to floodplain meadows) | Lowland meadows (including floodplain meadows) |
| Goat’s-beard | Lowland meadows (including floodplain meadows) |
| Great burnet (specific to floodplain meadows) | Lowland meadows (including floodplain meadows) |
| Greater bird’s-foot-trefoil | Lowland meadows (including floodplain meadows) |
| Jointed rushes | Lowland meadows (including floodplain meadows) |
| Lady’s bedstraw | Lowland meadows (including floodplain meadows) |
| Lady’s-mantles | Lowland meadows (including floodplain meadows) |
| Lesser spearwort | Lowland meadows (including floodplain meadows) |
| Marsh arrowgrass (local) | Lowland meadows (including floodplain meadows) |
| Marsh or fen bedstraw | Lowland meadows (including floodplain meadows) |
| Marsh marigold (specific to floodplain meadows) | Lowland meadows (including floodplain meadows) |
| Marsh speedwell | Lowland meadows (including floodplain meadows) |
| Marsh valerian | Lowland meadows (including floodplain meadows) |
| Meadow thistle | Lowland meadows (including floodplain meadows) |
| Meadow vetchling | Lowland meadows (including floodplain meadows) |
| Meadowsweet (specific to floodplain meadows) | Lowland meadows (including floodplain meadows) |
| Milkworts | Lowland meadows (including floodplain meadows) |
| Narrow-leaved water- dropwort (specific to floodplain meadows) | Lowland meadows (including floodplain meadows) |
| Orchids | Lowland meadows (including floodplain meadows) |
| Ox-eye daisy | Lowland meadows (including floodplain meadows) |
| Pepper-saxifrage (specific to floodplain meadows) | Lowland meadows (including floodplain meadows) |
| Pignut | Lowland meadows (including floodplain meadows) |
| Ragged robin | Lowland meadows (including floodplain meadows) |
| Rough hawkbit | Lowland meadows (including floodplain meadows) |
| Salad burnet | Lowland meadows (including floodplain meadows) |
| Saw-wort | Lowland meadows (including floodplain meadows) |
| Small to medium blue-green sedges (glaucous, common, carnation) | Lowland meadows (including floodplain meadows) |
| Snake’s-head fritillary (local) | Lowland meadows (including floodplain meadows) |
| Sneezewort | Lowland meadows (including floodplain meadows) |
| Tormentil | Lowland meadows (including floodplain meadows) |
| Water avens | Lowland meadows (including floodplain meadows) |
| Water mint | Lowland meadows (including floodplain meadows) |
| Wood anemone | Lowland meadows (including floodplain meadows) |
| Yellow rattle | Lowland meadows (including floodplain meadows) |
| Bog asphodel | Purple moor grass and rush pasture |
| Bog bean | Purple moor grass and rush pasture |
| Bog-mosses | Purple moor grass and rush pasture |
| Bog pimpernel | Purple moor grass and rush pasture |
| Bugle | Purple moor grass and rush pasture |
| Common valerian | Purple moor grass and rush pasture |
| Cross-leaved heath | Purple moor grass and rush pasture |
| Devil’s-bit scabious | Purple moor grass and rush pasture |
| Globeflower | Purple moor grass and rush pasture |
| Greater burnet | Purple moor grass and rush pasture |
| Greater bird’s-foot-trefoil | Purple moor grass and rush pasture |
| Hemp agrimony | Purple moor grass and rush pasture |
| Jointed rushes | Purple moor grass and rush pasture |
| Ivy-leaved bellflower | Purple moor grass and rush pasture |
| Lesser scullcap | Purple moor grass and rush pasture |
| Lesser spearwort | Purple moor grass and rush pasture |
| Lesser water-parsnip | Purple moor grass and rush pasture |
| Lousewort | Purple moor grass and rush pasture |
| Marsh or fen bedstraw | Purple moor grass and rush pasture |
| Marsh cinquefoil | Purple moor grass and rush pasture |
| Marsh hawk’s-beard | Purple moor grass and rush pasture |
| Marsh marigold | Purple moor grass and rush pasture |
| Marsh pennywort | Purple moor grass and rush pasture |
| Marsh speedwell | Purple moor grass and rush pasture |
| Marsh valerian | Purple moor grass and rush pasture |
| Marsh violet | Purple moor grass and rush pasture |
| Meadow rue | Purple moor grass and rush pasture |
| Meadow thistle | Purple moor grass and rush pasture |
| Meadowsweet | Purple moor grass and rush pasture |
| Orchids | Purple moor grass and rush pasture |
| Purple loosetrife | Purple moor grass and rush pasture |
| Ragged robin | Purple moor grass and rush pasture |
| Rough hawkbit | Purple moor grass and rush pasture |
| Scullcap | Purple moor grass and rush pasture |
| Saw-wort | Purple moor grass and rush pasture |
| Small blue-green sedges (glaucous, common, carnation) | Purple moor grass and rush pasture |
| Sneezewort | Purple moor grass and rush pasture |
| Tormentil | Purple moor grass and rush pasture |
| Water avens | Purple moor grass and rush pasture |
| Water mint | Purple moor grass and rush pasture |
| Whorled caraway | Purple moor grass and rush pasture |
| Wild angelica | Purple moor grass and rush pasture |
| Bird’s-foot-trefoil | Upland hay meadows |
| Black knapweed | Upland hay meadows |
| Bugle | Upland hay meadows |
| Burnet saxifrage | Upland hay meadows |
| Common bistort | Upland hay meadows |
| Changing forget-me-not | Upland hay meadows |
| Devil’s-bit scabious | Upland hay meadows |
| Globeflower | Upland hay meadows |
| Eyebrights | Upland hay meadows |
| Great burnet | Upland hay meadows |
| Hawkbits | Upland hay meadows |
| Lady’s-mantles | Upland hay meadows |
| Marsh marigold | Upland hay meadows |
| Marsh valerian | Upland hay meadows |
| Meadow vetchling | Upland hay meadows |
| Meadowsweet | Upland hay meadows |
| Melancholy thistle | Upland hay meadows |
| Orchids | Upland hay meadows |
| Pignut | Upland hay meadows |
| Ragged robin | Upland hay meadows |
| Saw-wort | Upland hay meadows |
| Small blue-green sedges (glaucous, common, carnation) | Upland hay meadows |
| Sneezewort | Upland hay meadows |
| Tormentil | Upland hay meadows |
| Water avens | Upland hay meadows |
| Wood anemone | Upland hay meadows |
| Wood crane’s-bill | Upland hay meadows |
| Yellow rattle | Upland hay meadows |
Updates to this page
Published 15 August 2024