Lloydia serotina, known in Britain as the Snowdon lily (after its first known location, Snowdon in north Wales), and in North America as common alplily, is an arctic-alpine flowering plant of the lily family. It is the only member of the genus Lloydia to live outside central and eastern Asia, and is widespread across western North America, from Alaska to New Mexico, and in Europe is found in the Alps and Carpathians, as well as in Great Britain.

For most of the year, the plant is only visible as long, curving, stiff, grass-like leaves, often protruding through cushions of other plants. The flowers appear around July (despite the name serotina, meaning "late-flowering"), and are borne at the end of long stalks. The flowers themselves are white, with a few reddish veins.

In Great Britain, L. serotina is only found on a few inaccessible sites in Snowdonia National Park, and seems never to have had a wider British distribution. Although the total Welsh population may number fewer than 100 bulbs, the Welsh plants are genetically distinct from other populations of the same species, and are more diverse than those found in the Alps. While their inaccessibility protects the plants to a certain degree against grazing by sheep and trampling by hikers, they are likely to suffer under climate change, and it is believed that L. serotina will be the first plant to become extinct in the British Isles as a result of global warming. Plans are therefore being considered to introduce the plant to sites in Scotland, where it may survive in the longer term.

References

• Global warming threatens Snowdonian plant, from Guardian Unlimited.
• B. Jones, C. Gliddon & J. E. G. Good (2001): The conservation of variation in geographically peripheral populations: Lloydia serotina (Liliaceae) in Britain. Biological Conservation 101: 147–156.

Späte Faltenlilie

Liliaceae | Alpine plants