Botanists have saved a rare flower from extinction that was discovered for the first time in York.
The 1970s saw the first appearance of the yellow-flowered York groundsel, a hybrid of two other plants.
Scientists planted seeds near the train station after it vanished in the 1990s, and now thousands of tiny plants are blooming.
The plant is "incredibly scientifically interesting," according to Andrew Shaw of the Rare British Plants Nursery.
It is a naturally occurring hybrid of two common plants, native groundsel and Oxford ragwort, but Mr. Shaw noted that hybrids rarely produce offspring.
We immediately acquired a new species, which is an extremely uncommon occurrence. Only a few instances have ever been recorded on the British Isles. ".
The hybrid's appearance in York, according to him, was "completely random," and he speculated that the plant may have gone extinct due to the use of weed killers and construction work on the areas where the flowers were growing.
Thanks to a project between Natural England and the Rare British Plants Nursery, some York groundsel seeds were fortunately stored at the Millennium Seed Bank at Kew and planted in polytunnels and throughout the city.
According to Alex Prendergast, a vascular plant senior specialist at Natural England, about 60,000 seeds were spread throughout York, but due to insufficient rain, the plants are small.
But he added that there were now a number of thousands of the plants, and he thought it was likely that they would now self-seed all over the city.
It has a sunny, cheery appearance and brightens the sidewalks. It's a pretty showy little plant, and it blooms every month of the year, so it might be important for pollinators in the future, according to Mr. Prendergast.
Now, hopefully, people in York will stop and take a closer look at a small yellow flower they see on the sidewalk, said Mr. Shaw.
