Conservation
Mountain rocky habitats on the Isle of Skye, Scotland. © Stephen Ansell
Despite a having a wide circum-arctic distribution range, this plant often occurs only in small populations in restricted habitats.
- In the eastern United States it is usually confined to sand bars
- In southern Germany populations are localised to rocky outcrops in pine forest.
- In Sweden it is restricted to a 90km stretch of coastal cliffs.
In the United Kingdom it classified as nationally scarce (Ratcliffe 1994), with a scattered distribution in Scotland, and only single populations in Wales and the Shetland Islands. Nevertheless, this plant is not threatened, and is therefore not covered by either the CITES or IUCN schemes.