British Flora – suppliers of native wildflowers, marginal, aquatic and seed planting.

British Flora aims to provide high quality, British native plants from seed and vegetative material.
We produce commercial quantities of British native plants for use in a diverse range of areas such as reed beds, wildlife / habitat creation and remediation as well as native species green roof areas. We aim to adopt a universal standard terms and definitions that are easily understood by those involved in the use of native flora.

At British Flora, we only grow British Native plants that are from fully known British provenance, either from our own seed bank or trusted sources. We also collect seed and vegetative material from various organisations such as the Environment Agency and local authorities, with permission.

British Flora also aims to adhere to biodiversity conservation standards and is signed up to Be Plant Wise campaign to help raise awareness and prevent the spread of invasive species into the wild.

British Flora aims to offer a complete range of flora, Native to the British Isle, with full British provenance that is grown exclusively at our nursery. British Flora does not import any plants from overseas as we aim to produce UK Native wildflowers, grasses and sedges, marginal & aquatics in commercial quantities.

We are able to offer our own site-specific UK native wildflower seed mixtures and offer suggestions of plant species specifically suited to your site’s requirements.

To ensure the conservation of native species British Flora will adhere to this code and ensure that their activities do not threaten or unlawfully disturb wild flora and fauna and their habitats.

1 Purpose

The purpose of British Floras’ Code of Practice is to:

• protect wild plants from unsustainable exploitation
• promote good practice in the collection, propagation, marketing, and sale of native flora with emphasis, on species that are native to Britain and Ireland
• promote a responsible approach to and an understanding of wild flora conservation
• help plant users identify plants which are suitable for their project areas.

2 Substitution

When supplying plants / seed, British Flora will adhere to the specification for the plants/seed that has been provided by the customer unless:

• prior written authorisation to substitute according to a revised specification has been received from the customer
• the customer’s specification is unclear – in which case a revised specification shall be mutually agreed in writing, prior to the plants/seed being supplied.

British Flora, as the supplier, will keep a written record of any verbal agreement.

3 Definitions

3.1 Plants, flora

Plants, or flora, for the purposes of this Code, are defined as any plant matter capable of being grown or propagated – including entire plants, seeds, rhizomes, bulbs, corms, roots, cuttings, clonal (including in vitro) material.

3.2 British native plant

British native plant refers to:

• a species that is considered native to Britain
• whose genetic variation is likely (given the best available information)

to be representative and inherited from plants still growing in the wild, and in native plant communities, in Britain.
Many species native to Britain are also native to other parts of the world. However, a British native plant, for the purpose of this Code, is one which can be traced back to its wild origin within Britain.

• whose native origin is Britain
• plants that have not been selectively bred (e.g. by cultivation of successive generations from the original wild stock or by selective breeding) or modified (e.g. genetically modified) to promote, introduce or remove any specific characters that are found in its wild ancestors.

3.3 British native species

These are species which naturally colonised Britain long ago. Forming self-sown (unplanted) native plant communities.

British native plant species often grow in discrete geographical areas, are adapted to specific climatic, geological and soil conditions, and grow in specific habitat types (e.g. native broadleaved woodland or lowland calcareous grassland).

Some species do not occur in all three British countries or Ireland and may not be native to large areas of Britain by virtue of their natural distribution. For example, they may be absent from offshore islands, confined to particular latitudes or altitudes (e.g. alpine species are not found growing away from high mountain areas).

3.4 Native origin

There are many different definitions for the term “origin” within the horticultural trade, for the purposes of describing native plants, the term “Native Origin” is used.

Native origin is:

• The location of a wild (unplanted) native plant community (in which a stand of native plants grow) or from which a native plant was originally introduced
• The place where the parent wild plants grow or grew (e.g. where a cutting of plant was taken from to grow in a nursery).

A plant of native origin is one whose genetic makeup has been inherited from and which is representative of plants which still grow in the wild.

3.5 Native provenance

Native provenance is defined as the place where a stand of native plants grows “in the wild” but where there is a possibility that the plants were planted or introduced and originated from somewhere else. However, the plants appear to be native and well adapted to the site and locality.