A rare Welsh flower eaten almost to extinction by grazing sheep has made a comeback in Snowdonia after conservationists removed the animals from the area.
The Snowdonia Hawkweed, one of the rarest plants in the world, had been thought extinct for almost five decades, nibbled almost completely away by sheep grazing on the mountainside.
But in 2002, a team of botanists spotted the plant clinging to a cliff away from the sheep and launched conservation efforts to revive it.
The rare perennial, also known as Hierachium snowdoniense, has now doubled its numbers from three to six after two decades.
It can now be found flourishing on mountains near Bethesda in Snowdonia and at The National Botanic Garden of Wales in Carmarthenshire.
Consultant botanist Robbie Blackhall-Miles, who is based in Snowdonia, said: “If you’re Joe Public, you'd probably think it's just another dandelion.
“In 2002 we were down to three plants but by 2021, six have been seen.
“After the Second World War, sheep were left to roam the landscape and not regulated by shepherds as they had been historically.
“And if you’re sheep, you’re not going to eat boring grass but nutritious flowers, so herbs like the Snowdonia Hawkweed got eaten.”
The sunshine yellow flowers were first identified in the 1880s and declared a species in the 1950s. Before they were rediscovered, they had last been recorded in 1953.
Conservationists have since removed sheep from the immediate area and collected the plant’s seeds as an insurance policy.
Mr Blackhall-Miles added: “It’s now safe where it is. It’s been brought into the National Botanic Garden of Wales for conservation and is being protected in the wild.
“It would be great to see them again in all seven sites where it used to grow but you’d have to control grazing for that to happen.”
Earlier this year, the plant was also featured in Sherlock Holmes drama The Irregulars on Netflix, where it was credited with properties which brought a dead man back to life.
While this power was a fictional invention, it has traditionally been used as a treatment for respiratory and kidney problems.
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