ONE of England's rarest plants could be forever lost due to over-zealous trimming of roadside verges.

Experts say plants growing by the side of the roads and country lanes in Teesdale are a haven for rare wildlife.

But recent studies have shown that regular cutting is having a devastating effect.

Teesdale District Parish Forum heard this week that roadside verges in Upper Teesdale were the only places in England where some rare species of plants, such as Lady's Mantle, can now be found.

Hundreds of years ago, Lady's Mantle held a special place among apothecaries because of the way the early morning mist collected in the cup of its grey-green leaves.

According to them, the dew - and especially the dew in May - had magical powers.

Any woman who washed her face in the moisture would find her former beauty restored. Washing regularly would hold back the ageing process indefinitely, they said.

Keith Bowey, implementation officer for the Durham Biodiversity Action Plan, has warned that the last examples could be wiped out unless more care is taken when cutting verges.

The Teesdale Roadside Flora Project surveyed 76km of roads in the dale, 1.33km of which had been classified as "red sites", meaning they contained many rare species of flora and fauna.

Mr Bowey recommended that roadside verges should only be cut back to a distance of 1.5 metres. Yet in some places they were being cut back up to 20 metres, he said.

Mr Bowey has now asked for the councillors to work in partnership with him and help make contractors aware of the importance of the roadside verges.

"It sounds unlikely that roadside verges are so rich in rare species," he said.

"But Teesdale has got some of the best areas of herb-rich hay meadow in England.

"You have something very, very special. Some of the rarest plants in the country are here, and some can't be found anywhere else in the United Kingdom. It's up to us all to protect them."

The roadside flora project had classified all the sites surveyed as red, amber and green, in terms of their environmental importance.

Mr Bowey hoped that, in future, should any repair work or re-surfacing work take place on these roads, contractors would be aware of the importance of the verges.

He said: "No one wants to compromise on safety and that is always going to be the priority over rare plants. However, it would be nice to think that the money that is saved on the extra cutting of the verges could be used to fund more roadside surveys."

Durham County Council has already agreed to work with experts in a bid to safeguard precious plants and flowers. This could include giving certain sites special protection.