Common pavement plants

Pavement edges

About this habitat: Pavement edges, particularly at the base of walls, will tend to collect more organic matter than pavement cracks and so may also retain more moisture. Plants which can thrive in these conditions may need more nutrients but are still fairly drought tolerant, and also benefit from limited competition from other plants. When found on pavement edges, mature plants may be shorter than they would in alternative locations where nutrients and water are more abundant.

Groundsel (Senecio vulgaris) This annual in the Daisy family grows up to 30cm tall and produces small yellow flowering heads all year round. It has lobed leaves, often with cottony hairs, and the outer row of green leafy bracts under the flower head are black-tipped.

Water Bent (Polypogon viridis) A native of southern mainland Europe, South Asia and North Africa, this perennial grass with creeping stems has colonised the edges of urban pavements in the British Isles. Its silver-highlighted and sometimes redtinged flowering heads are shaped a little like Christmas trees.

Guernsey Fleabane (Erigeron sumatrensis)

This tall annual in the Daisy family originates from South America and was first recorded in the British Isles in Guernsey in 1961, probably from seeds in imported wool. It can be distinguished from other similar Fleabanes by the hairs on the leaf margins, which curl forwards, combined with the very hairy bracts surrounding small white-ish flower heads.

Shepherd’s-purse (Capsella bursa-pastoris) An annual in the Cabbage family, this plant can grow up to 45cm tall from a rosette of lobed leaves. It has the characteristic four petals of its family and its white flowers develop into heart-shaped fruit.

Common Chickweed (Stellaria media) This edible plant is a very variable but usually sprawling annual in the Campion family. The flowers have five white deeplynotched petals and seeds are produced rapidly, enabling up to three generations in a year. Historically it was fed to caged birds, hence its name.

Petty Spurge (Euphorbia peplus) This annual in the distinctive Spurge family can grow up to 30cm tall. It has sprays of three-rayed greenish-yellow flowers and prefers welldrained nutrient-rich soils. Until recently, its white sap was used as a source of medicine for skin cancer.

Shaggy-soldier (Galinsoga quadriradiata) A native to Central and South America, this annual plant was first recorded in the British Isles in London in 1909. Drought tolerant, it can grow up to 80cm tall but is usually smaller on pavements. The flowering heads are like a daisy’s but with hairy stems and gaps between the white ray florets.

On walls

About this habitat: Man-made walls in urban areas mimic the growing conditions of rock outcrops, cliffs and caves in the natural environment. The urban plants you’ll find growing on them will be able to survive in nutrient-poor habitats but the particular species will depend on whether the wall is in full sun or shaded and the amount of moisture present.

Pellitory-of-the-wall (Parietaria judaica) A hairy perennial which can grow up to 50cm tall with reddish stems and tiny red flowers. It’s often spotted growing on old walls but also on pavement edges. It’s found throughout England but is rare in Scotland and Northern Ireland.

Herb-Robert (Geranium robertianum) A lowgrowing sprawling annual (or sometimes biennial) in the Crane’s-bill family with a distinctive musky smell. The leaves and stem can be reddish and the pink flowers develop into fruit resembling a bird’s head and beak.

Hart’s-tongue (Asplenium scolopendrium) With a preference for damp shady walls, like under bridges for example, the long strap-like undivided leaves of this common fern grow from a central crown. The spores, which a fern has instead of seeds, form in linear “sori” or spore cases on the underside of the leaves.

Ivy-leaved Toadflax (Cymbalaria muralis) A small trailing perennial in the Figwort family which is native to the mountains of South and South Eastern Europe where it thrives on rocky outcrops. Its tiny lilac and yellow flowers are a similar shape to cultivated snapdragon and its seed pods bend away from light so that it can more easily reseed itself into a wall crevice.

Common pavement plants

Mexican Fleabane (Erigeron karvinskianus) A perennial and popular garden plant native to Mexico where it thrives on rock outcrops and cliffs. It’s most common on pavements in South East and Central Britain, but has been recorded as far north as Inverness while remaining scarce in Ireland. It has yellow and white daisy-like flowering heads which are pinkish underneath.

“ Wild plants growing in urban environments bring me so much joy! I keep an eye out for them wherever I go - happiness comes in the form of Common Whitlowgrass on the way to the supermarket, Yarrow at the bus stop, or Shaggy-soldier clustering around a lamppost. Plants are extraordinarily talented at making something out of nothing. Their presence fuels biodiversity and props up our ecosystems - they could not be more important. “

— Leif Bersweden (Botanist and author)

In tree pits, especially those which are nutrient rich

About this habitat: Nutrient-rich tree pits, particularly those well used by dogs, are the urban equivalent of fertilised arable fields, gardens and compost heaps and you’re likely to find similar plants as you’d find in those habitats, including some which are relatively shade tolerant under leafy street trees. Where tree pits aren’t so nutrient-rich, are less shaded, drier and with more bare patches, there’s likely to be overlap with the plants growing in pavement cracks and edges.

Fat-hen (Chenopodium album) An annual in the Goosefoot family with toothed leaves which usually have a mealy white bloom. Flower stems grow from the leaf junctions and have strings of small knobbly flowers. In rural areas it’s a common weed of arable crops.

Smooth Sow-thistle (Sonchus oleraceus) This tall and hairless annual in the Daisy family has yellow dandelion-like flower heads, toothed leaves and milky stem sap. It’s common across the British Isles, apart from in North Scotland.

Annual Mercury (Mercurialis annua) An annual in the Spurge family which grows up to 50cm tall. It has separate male and female plants with toothed leaves and stems of inconspicuous flowers. It’s common in Southern England and absent from Scotland.

Bristly Oxtongue (Helminthotheca echioides) A very robust bristly annual or biennial in the Daisy family which can be up to 90cm tall. The yellow dandelion-like flowering heads have leafy triangular bracts underneath which resemble bristly tongues which give the plant its name.

Common pavement plants

This bristly perennial in the Borage family is thought to have been introduced originally as a dye plant from South West Europe. Growing up to a metre tall, it has right blue flowers and is shade tolerant. It’s common across the British Isles, apart from in North Scotland.

“ We must make space for wild plants in our city streets to increase urban greenery, which helps biodiversity, residents’ health and wellbeing, and adaptation to climate change. We can rethink streets to incorporate wildflowers in road verges, green roofs, street planters and window boxes; natural parklets reclaimed from parking spaces; and native climbers and shrubs covering walls and forming hedges. “

Regional favourites

Botanists the length and breadth of the British Isles shared their favourite local pavement plants with us. Many of these are common across the UK and Ireland, unless indicated otherwise.

London

Four-leaved Allseed (Polycarpon tetraphyllum)

A creeping annual plant in the Campion family which is native to South-West England but has found a new home on London pavements. It has teeny tiny flowers with white petals.

Oxford Maidenhair Spleenwort (Asplenium trichomanes)

This is a small, tufted evergreen fern with oblong leaflets and dark stems. It can be found thriving on shady urban walls.

Norwich

Henbit Dead-nettle (Lamium amplexicaule)

This annual in the Dead-nettle family can grow up to 25 cm tall on urban verges. It differs from the more common Red Nettle in that its upper leaves are unstalked and it has white flowers splashed with crimson rather than uniformly pink flowers which sometimes don’t open.

Reading Common Ramping-fumitory (Fumaria muralis)

A scrambling annual in the Poppy family which has lobed leaves and small pink flowers tipped in crimson. In urban areas it’s usually found growing in nutrient-rich urban verges.

Cardiff

Scarlet Pimpernel (Anagallis arvensis)

An annual or short-lived low-growing perennial in the Primrose family which has distinctive red flowers and square section stems. As well as in arable fields, it’s common in urban waste grounds across the British Isles with the exception of Scotland

Shrewsbury

Common Whitlowgrass (Erophila verna)

A small and delicate spring-flowering annual in the Cabbage family. Its flowering stems grow from a rosette of small leaves and the flowers have deeply notched white petals.

Merseyside

Field Madder (Sheradia arvensis)

A low-growing annual in the Bedstraw family which, as its name suggests, is usually found in arable fields but its tiny mauve flowers can sometimes be spotted on urban verges. It’s less common in North Scotland.

Dublin

Musk Stork’s-bill (Erodium moschatum)

An annual in the Crane’s-bill family which has a musky smell. The pink five-petalled flowers develop into fruit which are up to 3cm long. While its natural range includes the coastal regions of South West England, Wales and Ireland, it is becoming more common on urban lawns.

Inverness

Mossy Stonecrop (Crassula tillaea)

A small reddish creeping annual with succulent overlapping leaves and inconspicuous flowers, each with three white-pink petals. It’s native to East Anglia, Southern England and the Channel Islands where it grows on bare gravelly ground but has started colonising paths, for example in Inverness.