Guidance

Species-rich grassland: indicator species

Find 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

Find 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.

Lowland calcareous

  • Betony
  • µþ¾±°ù»å’s-´Ú´Ç´Ç³Ù-³Ù°ù±ð´Ú´Ç¾±±ô
  • Biting stonecrop
  • Bloody crane’s-bill
  • Carline thistle
  • Clustered bellflower
  • Common agrimony
  • Common rock-rose
  • Cowslip
  • Dropworts
  • Devil’s-bit scabious
  • Eyebright
  • Fairy flax
  • Field scabious
  • Gentians
  • Greater knapweed
  • Hairy violet
  • Harebell
  • Hawkweed oxtongue
  • Hoary plantain
  • Hoary rock-rose
  • Horseshoe vetch
  • Kidney vetch
  • Lady’s bedstraw
  • Marjoram
  • Milkworts
  • Mouse-ear hawkweed
  • Orchids
  • Ox-eye daisy
  • Purple milk-vetch
  • Restharrow
  • Rough or lesser hawkbit
  • Sainfoin
  • Salad burnet
  • Saw-wort
  • Small blue-green sedges
  • Small scabious
  • Squinancywort
  • Stemless thistle
  • Thyme-leaved sandwort
  • Wild basil
  • Wild thyme
  • Yellow-wort

Lowland dry acid

  • Bell heather
  • Betony
  • Bilberry
  • µþ¾±°ù»å’s-´Ú´Ç´Ç³Ù
  • µþ¾±°ù»å’s-´Ú´Ç´Ç³Ù-³Ù°ù±ð´Ú´Ç¾±±ô
  • Biting stonecrop
  • Bitter-vetch
  • Blue fleabane
  • Buck’s-horn plantain
  • Common centaury
  • Common rock-rose
  • Common stork’s-bill
  • Devil’s-bit scabious
  • Harebell
  • Heath bedstraw
  • Heath speedwell
  • Heather
  • Lady’s bedstraw
  • Lichens
  • Lousewort
  • Maiden pink
  • Milkworts
  • Mouse-ear hawkweed
  • Parsley pierts
  • Pignut
  • Purple milk-vetch
  • Rough or lesser hawkbit
  • Saw-wort
  • ³§³ó±ð±ð±è’s-²ú¾±³Ù
  • Sheep’s sorrel
  • ³§³ó±ð±è³ó±ð°ù»å’s-³¦°ù±ð²õ²õ
  • Thymes
  • Tormentil
  • Violets
  • Wild strawberry
  • Wood anemone
  • Wood sage

Lowland meadows (including floodplain meadows)

Where this is a floodplain meadow, you must have at least one priority floodplain meadow indicator species present that is “frequently occurring�. The rest can be made up from the wider list.

  • Agrimony
  • Autumn hawkbit (priority floodplain meadow indicator)
  • Betony
  • µþ¾±°ù»å’s-´Ú´Ç´Ç³Ù-³Ù°ù±ð´Ú´Ç¾±±ô
  • Bitter-vetch
  • Black knapweed
  • Bugle
  • Burnet saxifrage
  • Common bistort (priority floodplain meadow indicator)
  • Common meadow-rue (priority floodplain meadow indicator)
  • Corky-fruited water-dropwort
  • Cowslip
  • Devil’s-bit scabious (priority floodplain meadow indicator)
  • Dyer’s greenweed
  • Eyebright
  • Field scabious
  • Globeflower (priority floodplain meadow indicator)
  • ³Ò´Ç²¹³Ù’s-²ú±ð²¹°ù»å
  • Great burnet (priority floodplain meadow indicator)
  • Greater bird’s-foot-trefoil
  • Jointed rushes
  • Lady’s bedstraw
  • ³¢²¹»å²â’s-³¾²¹²Ô³Ù±ô±ð²õ
  • Lesser spearwort
  • Marsh arrowgrass (local)
  • Marsh or fen bedstraw
  • Marsh marigold (priority floodplain meadow indicator)
  • Meadow saxifrage
  • Marsh speedwell
  • Marsh valerian
  • Meadow thistle
  • Meadow vetchling
  • Meadowsweet (priority floodplain meadow indicator)
  • Milkworts
  • Narrow-leaved water- dropwort (priority floodplain meadow indicator)
  • Orchids
  • Ox-eye daisy
  • Pepper-saxifrage (priority floodplain meadow indicator)
  • Pignut
  • Ragged robin
  • Rough hawkbit
  • Salad burnet
  • Saw-wort
  • Small to medium blue-green sedges (glaucous, common, carnation)
  • Snake’s-head fritillary (local)
  • Sneezewort
  • Tormentil
  • Tubular water-dropwort (priority floodplain meadow indicator)
  • Water avens
  • Water mint
  • Wood anemone
  • Yellow rattle

Purple moor grass and rush pasture

  • Bog asphodel
  • Bog bean
  • Bog-mosses
  • Bog pimpernel
  • Bugle
  • Common valerian
  • Cross-leaved heath
  • Devil’s-bit scabious
  • Globeflower
  • Greater burnet
  • Greater bird’s-foot-trefoil
  • Hemp agrimony
  • Jointed rushes
  • Ivy-leaved bellflower
  • Lesser scullcap
  • Lesser spearwort
  • Lesser water-parsnip
  • Lousewort
  • Marsh or fen bedstraw
  • Marsh cinquefoil
  • Marsh hawk’s-beard
  • Marsh marigold
  • Marsh pennywort
  • Marsh speedwell
  • Marsh valerian
  • Marsh violet
  • Meadow rue
  • Meadow thistle
  • Meadowsweet
  • Orchids
  • Purple loosetrife
  • Ragged robin
  • Rough hawkbit
  • Scullcap
  • Saw-wort
  • Small blue-green sedges (glaucous, common, carnation)
  • Sneezewort
  • Tormentil
  • Water avens
  • Water mint
  • Whorled caraway
  • Wild angelica

Upland hay meadows

  • µþ¾±°ù»å’s-´Ú´Ç´Ç³Ù-³Ù°ù±ð´Ú´Ç¾±±ô
  • Black knapweed
  • Bugle
  • Burnet saxifrage
  • Common bistort
  • Changing forget-me-not
  • Devil’s-bit scabious
  • Globeflower
  • Eyebrights
  • Great burnet
  • Hawkbits
  • ³¢²¹»å²â’s-³¾²¹²Ô³Ù±ô±ð²õ
  • Marsh marigold
  • Marsh valerian
  • Meadow saxifrage
  • Meadow vetchling
  • Meadowsweet
  • Melancholy thistle
  • Orchids
  • Pignut
  • Ragged robin
  • Saw-wort
  • Small blue-green sedges (glaucous, common, carnation)
  • Sneezewort
  • Tormentil
  • Water avens
  • Wood anemone
  • Wood crane’s-bill
  • Yellow rattle

Updates to this page

Published 15 August 2024
Last updated 2 June 2025 show all updates
  1. Under the section on lowland meadows, the frequency of priority floodplain meadow indicator species has changed from occasional to frequent.

  2. Removed Beautiful St John's-Wort from species list.

  3. First published.

Sign up for emails or print this page