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Spring Sandwort, Minuartia verna

Jeremy Bartlett's LET IT GROW blog Posted on by

Spring Sandwort, Minuartia verna. Arnside area, Cumbria, end of July 2018.

At the end of July we returned to Arnside in Cumbria and spent a week in the same holiday cottage as last year.

Our visit coincided with a welcome spell of cooler weather with sunny spells and some rain. Although the weather reminded us of last June’s visit, when we saw Bloody Crane’s-bill (Geranium sanguineum), Bog Asphodel (Narthecium ossifragum) and Dark Red Helleborine (Epipactis atrorubens), much of the the vegetation was very different. Following weeks of drought young birch trees on Gait Barrows had brown leaves and on the lower slopes of Arnside Knott, in short turf over limestone rocks, last year’s carpets of flowers had mostly frizzled up.

I say “mostly”, because there was one plant that was still managing to flower: Spring Sandwort, Minuartia verna. It’s a small and rather subtle plant, but its cushions of leaves and pretty white flowers were a welcome contrast to the curled up brown leaves of Rock Rose (Helianthemum nummularium) and other plants.

Spring Sandwort, Minuartia verna, is a member of the Carnation family, the Caryophyllaceae, like Spanish Catchfly (Silene otites) and Corncockle (Agrostemma githago), which I’ve already written about. The genus Minuartia is widely distributed in the northern hemisphere, in Europe, Asia and North America. Estimates of the number of species in the genus varies: the range in Hortipedia is given as 127 to 244 species. The plants are found in inhospitable alpine and arctic environments, in stony places and on rocky ledges, and many can tolerate very low temperatures. Minuartia verna sometimes grows alongside Mossy Saxifrage (Saxifraga hypnoides), which also has cushions of leaves and white flowers, but with a closer look the two species are usually easy to tell apart.

Minuartia verna is a short-lived perennial and in the British Isles it flowers from May to August. It can be found in areas of Carboniferous limestone and in the British Isles it is quite scarce, found mainly in Northern England, but also North Wales (particularly Cwm Idwal and the Great Orme), parts of Northern Ireland, The Burren in Southern Ireland and in a few areas of the Scottish Highlands (see distribution map). There is also a morphologically distinct population of the plant on the Lizard in Cornwall. The plant usually grows below 600 metres (1960 feet) above sea level, although it has been recorded at 875 metres (2800 feet) on Snowdon in North Wales. Outside the British Isles, it grows in limestone areas in many other European countries and has several subspecies. For gardeners, it makes a good alpine plant.

Minuartia is named after Juan Minuart (1693-1768), a Spanish botanist, pharmacist and plant collector and the specific name “verna” means spring. The Irish name is Gaineamhlus earraigh and the Welsh name is Wlyddgwyrdd y mynydd (which I am told means “mountain breeze”, which is rather lovely).

Another English name for Minuartia verna is Leadwort. The plant is tolerant of heavy metals and grows quite happily on spoil heaps (see picture) and around old mine workings, of lead, zinc and copper. Plants like this that can tolerate high levels of heavy metals are known as metallophytes. Some are obligate metallophytes and will only grow in these conditions. Minuartia verna is classed as a facultative metallophyte – it can tolerate heavy metals but will happily grow elsewhere too.

The ability of Minuartia verna to grow in places contaminated with heavy metals has been documented in several scientific papers, including:

 

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