Over 30 kinds of rare plants grow in the Avon Gorge in Bristol. This makes it a top botanical site in the UK. Thanks to an engineer’s wife in the 19th century, a very rare bulb can still be found on the slopes of the gorge.
Some rare plant species of the Avon Gorge
- Bristol whitebeam (Sorbus bristoliensis)
Tree, endemic to the gorge. Its leaves have white, hairy undersides. The berries are orange.
There are 21 different species, subspecies and hybrids of whitebeams in the Avon Gorge. That’s more than any other locality in the world!
- Bristol onion (Allium sphaerocephalon)
This plant flowers in July. Magenta flowers gradually fade to greyish pink.
- Bristol rock cress (Arabis scabra)
Tiny alpine plant.
In spring, its white flowers reach out from crevices on graceful stems.
- Honewort (Trinia glauca)
This plant is a member of the carrot family and is pollinated by ants.
Honewort was first found in the Avon Gorge in 1562 by the famous botanist William Turner (1509-1568). He was the author of the first English herbal, a guide book for the medicinal use of plants. ‘New Herbal’, published in parts from 1551 to 1568, is considered a great landmark in the history of British gardening.
The remarkable conservation of the autumn squill
Brunel
The famous engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel is perhaps best remembered for designs for the Clifton Suspension Bridge in Bristol. This stunning bridge spans the Avon Gorge.
The bridge was built to designs based on Brunel’s, but with changes. Brunel did not live to see the bridge finished. Work was completed four years after his death, in 1864.
Mrs Glennie
In 1831, Elizabeth Glennie, the wife of Brunel’s assistant Willliam Glennie, warned the great engineer that the construction of the Clifton Suspension Bridge would destroy rare plants in the gorge, like the Autumn squill (Scilla autumnalis).
So, Brunel had the bulbs dug up and replanted further along the gorge. It’s thought to be one of the first recorded examples of plant conservation!
