Wahlenbergia hederacea Ivy-leaved Bellflower

A delicate, trailing, perennial bellflower with small, pale blue flowers and small, somewhat ivy-shaped leaves. It is a plant of damp places on heaths, moors, in marshy grassland and beside streams and ditches. It belongs to the Oceanic Southern-temperate element of the British flora and it has a pronounced western distribution in Britain, occuring almost exclusively in Wales and south-west England. In that sense it is an extremely important component of Wales' heritage and biodiversity. It has declined in sites at the edge of its range in Britain and all existing populations are probably vulnerable to habitat loss. In West Glamorgan it is confined entirely to sites in the South Wales Coalfield, several of which have been lost in recent decades. Some of its current strongholds in Neath Port Talbot are in conifer plantations where relic population have survived on heathy, moorland banks along ditches at the edges of forest roads.

Native