May 22, 2006. London Wildlilfe Trust. Today, on International Biodiversity Day, The London Wildlife Trust voices it concern for the future of bluebells in London and urges Londoners to help save one of their favourite species.

The UK's bluebell woodlands probably contain 60 per cent of bluebells worldwide and are renowned as a spring wildflower spectacle. But London's bluebells, found in remaining patches of woodland such as the Trust's reserve at Sydenham Hill Wood in south-east London, may now be under threat from the cultivated version of the Spanish bluebell, often sold in garden centres and used in parks and gardens.

Dr Mark Spencer, London Wildlife Trust council member and Curator of British Plants at the Natural History Museum, says: We encourage Londoners to go out into their backgardens, local parks and woodlands and look at the bluebells and record their observations on the NHM's website "Exploring British Wildlife: Bluebells".

"Our native bluebell breeds with the Spanish version to form a hybrid which may be becoming increasingly common leading to fears that the British bluebell may be threatened, particularly in urban and suburban areas, where cultivated parks and gardens bring the Spanish and hybrid bluebell into close proximity with native bluebells.

Some fear that the bluebell's ability to survive may be reduced by hybridization. The Natural History Museum wishes to work with the public to discover where the different types of bluebell occur. "

In areas such as Sydenham Hill Wood Nature Reserve, the native, Spanish and hybrid bluebells all coexist. So, if you are out enjoying the bluebells this year, the London Wildlife Trust urges you to note what you see and submit your findings to the Natural History Museum.