Thlaspi caerulescens
Lead-wort (Alpine Penny Cress)
Species Details
Alpine Penny-cress is a rare, native perennial of the White Peak where it is so characteristic of the sparse vegetation on the spoil-heaps of old lead workings that it has acquired the local name of Leadwort. It often occurs with the equally lead-tolerant Spring Sandwort [Dove Dale SK1453; Rose End Meadows SK2958], but with few other flowering plants. It can also be found, but much less commonly, on limestone rocks and walls. In the White Peak it exists mostly in the area west of the Matlocks, but there is an old, isolated records on mine spoil at Castleton (SK1383) and at Crich (SK3454) where there exists an isolated area of Carboniferous Limestone. It has a local and disjunct distribution throughout Britain, north to Scotland and is Nationally Scarce.
This plant is in Category 3 of the local Red Data List, 2009.
