About Gagea serotina (L.) Ker Gawl.
Description: For most of the year, Gagea serotina (L.) Ker Gawl. is visible only as long, curving, stiff, grass-like leaves, which often protrude through cushions of other plants. Flowers appear from June onwards (despite the species name serotina meaning "late-flowering") and are borne at the end of long stalks. The flowers themselves are white, with purple or reddish veins along the tepals. In Great Britain, G. serotina is an ice age relict, found only on a few inaccessible sites in Snowdonia National Park, with Cwm Idwal being one such site, and it appears to have developed in isolation since the glacial period. The total Welsh population may number fewer than 100 bulbs, but Welsh plants are genetically distinct from other populations of the same species, and are genetically more diverse than populations found in the Alps. While habitat inaccessibility protects the plants to a degree against sheep grazing and trampling by hikers, they are likely to be harmed by climate change, and it is believed G. serotina will be the first plant to become extinct in Britain as a result of global warming. Plans are therefore being considered to introduce the plant to sites in Scotland, where it may survive longer term. It became a protected species in the UK in 1975 under the Conservation of Wild Creatures and Wild Plants Act.
