Scientific name: Hornungia petraea

Status: Nationally scarce

Flowering time: March – May

Description: Very small plant with pinnate rosette leaves and tiny greyish flowers. Smallest of all the Avon Gorge rarities. Winter annual that flowers early, sets seed and disappears by June.

Social history: Named after Helen Hutchins, an Irish botanist from the late 1700s.

Taxonomy: Brassicaceae (or cabbage) family.

Global and national distribution: Widely distributed from south Scandinavia through central, west and south Europe to northwest Africa.

Threats: Needs well-drained open habitat and likes disturbance.