It was originally known as mountain spiderwort, but is now known in
Great Britain as the Snowdon lily, or in
Welsh as Lili'r Wyddfa (meaning "rush-leaves of the mountain").[4] In
North America, it is called the common alplily. It is also known as Snowdon alplily.[5]
Description
For most of the year, the plant is visible only as long, curving, stiff, grass-like leaves, often protruding through cushions of other plants. The flowers appear from June onwards (despite the 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.[6][7][8]
In
Great Britain, G. serotina is an
ice age relict, only found on a few inaccessible sites in
Snowdonia National Park,
Cwm Idwal being one such site, and seems to have developed in isolation since the glacial period. Although the total Welsh population may number fewer than 100
bulbs, the Welsh plants are genetically distinct from other populations of the same species, and are more diverse than those found in the Alps.[9]
While their inaccessibility protects the plants to a certain degree against
grazing by
sheep and trampling by
hikers, they are likely to suffer under
climate change, and it is believed that 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 in the longer term.[10]
It became a protected species in the UK in 1975 under the Conservation of Wild Creatures and Wild Plants Act.[11]
Taxonomy
The genus Lloydia was formerly considered distinct from Gagea, this species being called Lloydia serotina.[12] All the species of Lloydia are now included in Gagea.[13][14]
^Robin Gwyndaf (2006). The Mountain Man. A portrayal of Evan Roberts, Capel Curig, rockman, botanist and conservationist. Capel Curig: Friends of St. Julitta's Church.
ISBN0-9552995-0-0.
^Heinrich Gottlieb Ludwig Reichenbach. 1830. Flora Germanica Excursoria 102, as Lloydia serotina
^B. Jones; C. Gliddon; J. E. G. Good (2001). "The conservation of variation in geographically peripheral populations: Lloydia serotina (Liliaceae) in Britain". Biological Conservation. 101 (2): 147–156.
doi:
10.1016/S0006-3207(01)00055-6.
^T. G. Tutin; V. H. Heywood; N. A. Burges; D. M. Moore; D. H. Valentine; S. M. Walters; D. A. Webb, eds. (1980). Flora Europaea. Vol. 5. Cambridge University Press. p. 25.
ISBN978-0-521-20108-7.