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Spring sandwort

Taxonomic information

Common Name: Spring Sandwort

Latin Name: Minuartia verna

Family: Caryophyllaceae (Pink family)

Description

Spring sandwort, also known as vernal sandwort or leadwort, is a small tufted perennial with white flowers and can sometimes have a loosely-carpeting habit. It is a metallophyte that likes to grow in lead-rich soils. It is frequently found on old lead-mine spoil heaps in northern England and by the sides of streams flowing near them. It can also be found sometimes on limestone scars. However, on the whole it is a scarce species in the British Isles.

In the Yorkshire Dales National Park it is fairly frequent on several sites with lead mining spoil, for example, Thoralby lead mines and Ballowfield Local Nature Reserve in Wensleydale and near Bastow Wood in Wharfedale. It can also be seen on some short limestone grasslands, rock ledges and limestone scars in the south west of the National Park.