Uncommon wildflowers, part four. Many common species have been made uncommon by habitat loss. Meadow Clary (Salvia pratensis) is now so rare that it made the national news when twelve plants were stolen from a nature reserve in Kent. 

 By contrast the conservation status of Wild Clary (Salvia verbenaca) is listed as of "least concern" on the GB Red List. None the less its distribution is localised in southern England, rare elsewhere and declining.

 I was surprised to find a substantial colony on Windmill Hill in my home town of Hitchin as seen above. Undoubtably a survival from the rural past which became surrounded by the expansion of the town during the twentieth century. A smaller stand can be seen about half a mile away on the margins of a playing field adjoining a council estate.