(SJ2621), but neither of these has been confirmed.
Euphrasia rostkoviana Hayne Eyebright Native. Rare. There is only one recent record of this species in Shropshire. It was collected in the speciesrich grassland along the path of the Wye Elan pipeline through the Wyre Forest (SO7077) by Sarah Whild & John Bingham in 1998 (conf. A.J. Silverside). Sinker (1985) reports that there are older records for the Wyre Forest, but no details are known. Other records for Shropshire are by Painter (Church Stretton, SO4593, 1897), Melvill (Stokesay, SO4381, 1904), and Sinker & Perring (Batholes Meadow, SJ3300, 1962).
Euphrasia scottica Wettst. Eyebright Native. Extinct (1911). J.C. Melvill recorded this species in Carding Mill Valley (SO4494) in 1907, 1909 and 1911. In the last year he saw it the bog had dried out and the plants were very small. It is not known whether any specimens still exist. Although Melvill seemed very positive about the identification, Lloyd & Rutter (1957) considered it doubtful and Sinker (1985) ignored it completely. It is, however, mapped in the New Atlas.
[Euphrasia stricta D. Wolff ex J.F. Lehm.] Eyebright Not in Shropshire. In 1907 William Hunt Painter collected a specimen at Buildwas (SJ6304) that was determined by J.W. White as Euphrasia officinalis var. stricta, which is presumably E. stricta, but the location of the specimen is unknown and that species has never been properly recorded in Britain.
The habitat of this plant is in humid, wet woodland in deep valleys, on neutral or slightly calcareous soils, usually within the splash zone of a stream or waterfall. Although Sinker (1985) mentions earlier rumours of its occurrence in south Shropshire, Bill Thompson was the first to formally record it in 1981 - a small patch in a steep wooded gully at Ray’s Bridge (SO7183) in 1981, where it still was in 2004 (Lockton). A couple of weeks later he found a rather larger population in similar woodland alongside the Borle Brook near Highley (SO7383), and that was also still extant in 2004 (Lockton). In 1987 Chris Walker found it in Lydebrook Dingle (SJ6606), where it has since been recorded by Kate Thorne (2004). A fourth site was found in 2004 when Wendy Compson & Alex Lockton collected it in Oaks Wood (SJ4104, det. S.J. Whild), by a tributary of the Habberley Brook. All the known sites are in ancient W8 Fraxinus excelsior woodland. One other record for the county seems rather dubious. In 1977 J.L. Bostock and J.D. Box apparently recorded it ‘in a flooded area in Donnington by a colliery tip.’ The grid reference seems to relate to Muxton Marsh, where there is a large population of Festuca arundinacea, and it seems possible that this might have been a typographical error. Festuca altissima 4
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Festuca altissima All. Wood Fescue Native. Scarce. Rare Plants of Shropshire
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