Extinct or lost: Plants that no longer occur in Germany

The current nationwide Red List of Germany’s ferns and flowering plants, published in 2018, shows how profoundly the country’s flora has already changed: more than a quarter of the assessed species and subspecies are threatened. In Germany, 65 taxa are even considered extinct or no longer found—equivalent to 1.8% of the assessed ferns and flowering plants.

These plants are not necessarily extinct worldwide; many still occur outside Germany. Nevertheless, their disappearance is a warning signal. Plant extinction usually does not begin with the sudden end of a species, but gradually: first a site disappears, then a local population, later an entire region. If the same process also takes place in other parts of the range, regional disappearance can eventually become global extinction.

This process can be observed especially well in plants. Many of the vanished species were specialists: they lived in nutrient-poor fields, bogs and fens, wet meadows, clear waters, open banks, or nutrient-poor grasslands. Such habitats have become rare in Germany. Drainage, fertilization, herbicides, river regulation, bank reinforcement, land development, or the abandonment of traditional land-use practices have heavily altered many sites. For specialized plants, this means that not only individual occurrences are lost, but their entire ecological basis disappears.

8 plants extinct in Germany

Waterwheel plant—a carnivorous aquatic plant

The waterwheel plant (Aldrovanda vesiculosa) is a free-floating, rootless aquatic plant in the sundew family. It usually drifts just below the water surface and uses small snap traps to catch tiny aquatic animals such as water fleas or young mosquito larvae.

Although the species was historically distributed from Europe through Africa and Asia to Australia, it was always scattered and rare. Eleven historical sites are known in Germany, mainly in Brandenburg as well as one occurrence in Bavaria on Lake Constance. Many populations disappeared as early as around 1900 or in the 1930s; the last Brandenburg occurrences were gone by around 1980 at the latest. According to the Red List, the waterwheel plant was last recorded in Germany in 2000 and is now considered extinct or no longer found. In Austria, the waterwheel plant disappeared from its only known occurrence in the Lake Constance area as early as the 19th century.

The waterwheel plant died out because its habitats were lost: clear, nutrient-poor, shallow standing waters with stable water levels. Drainage, waterway engineering, siltation, changes to shorelines, and peat and gravel extraction destroyed many former sites. Nutrient inputs from agriculture and wastewater added further pressure. They promote algae and strongly competitive aquatic plants, cloud the water, and worsen light conditions. For the light-demanding waterwheel plant, this makes the water body uninhabitable.

Yellow marsh saxifrage—a relic from colder times

Yellow marsh saxifrage (Saxifraga hirculus subsp. hirculus) is a yellow-flowering plant of wet, nutrient-poor bog and fen sites. In Germany, it was mainly tied to transitional and lowland fens—habitats that must remain permanently wet, bright, and nutrient-poor. Such conditions are now rare.

Although the species is widespread across the Northern Hemisphere, its Central European occurrences were something special: they are considered relics from colder climatic periods. In Germany, yellow marsh saxifrage disappeared completely over the course of the 20th century. Many populations had already declined sharply by the end of the 19th century; in Bavaria, they were considered on the brink of extinction by the middle of the 20th century. The last record from southern Swabia dates from 1981; in the Murnauer Moos, the species last flowered in 1992. Since 1995, it has been considered no longer found or extinct in Germany.

The main causes were drainage, nutrient inputs, the alteration of bogs and fens, and the loss of open, wet sites. Climate change is an additional factor: for a cold-adapted fen plant at the edge of its range, warmer and drier conditions can mean additional stress. In Central Europe, yellow marsh saxifrage now survives in only a few places.

Lake Constance saxifrage—a globally extinct Lake Constance endemic

Lake Constance saxifrage (Saxifraga oppositifolia subsp. amphibia) was a special form of purple saxifrage. Unlike the alpine parent species, it did not live in the high mountains, but on the gravel and shingle shores of Lake Constance. There, it was adapted to a very specific habitat: open, nutrient-poor shoreline areas that were periodically flooded over the course of the year and later dried out again.

This made Lake Constance saxifrage a true endemic of the Lake Constance region. It occurred only in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland—and even there only on a few suitable shoreline sections. The plant has not been recorded since the 1960s; according to the Red List, it has been considered extinct or no longer found in Germany since 1975. Because there were no natural occurrences outside the Lake Constance region, its disappearance very likely means the global extinction of this subspecies.

The causes lie mainly in the loss of dynamic, near-natural gravel shores. Bank reinforcement, regulation, human pressure, nutrient inputs, and the alteration of natural water-level fluctuations caused the open, regularly flooded sites to disappear. Plants were apparently not taken into cultivation in time, so reintroduction is now considered impossible.

Flaxfield catchfly—extinct with flax cultivation

Flaxfield catchfly (Silene linicola) was a highly specialized companion plant of flax cultivation. It once grew exclusively in flax fields and persisted there as a contaminant in seed. The annual plant reached heights of 30 to 60 centimeters and bore pink flowers with purple-red stripes.

In Germany, flaxfield catchfly has been considered extinct or no longer found according to the Red List since 1955. Its disappearance is directly linked to the end of traditional flax cultivation. Because the species could not build up a long-lived soil seed bank, it depended on the regular sowing of contaminated flax seed. When flax cultivation declined and seed was cleaned more thoroughly, it lost its only ecological niche.

Interestingly, the flaxfield catchfly probably arose only through the long history of human use—as a form adapted to flax cultivation from an ancestral species distributed farther south. Its extinction therefore shows not only the loss of an arable wild plant, but also the disappearance of a historic cultural landscape.

Outside Germany, flaxfield catchfly still occurs in parts of France, Italy, and Croatia or the northwestern Balkan Peninsula. Overall, however, the species is rare and closely tied to historical forms of flax cultivation.

Blue woodruff—a vanished arable wildflower

Blue woodruff (Asperula arvensis) is a Mediterranean-influenced arable wildflower in the bedstraw family. It grew mainly in cereal fields, more rarely also on fallows or in vineyards, and preferred warm, bright sites on lime-rich and clay-rich soils.

In Germany, blue woodruff is documented from prehistoric times, including through archaeobotanical finds. It was therefore long part of the Central European arable flora. With the intensification of agriculture, however, the species disappeared almost completely from Central Europe in the 20th century. In Germany, according to the Red List, it has been considered extinct or no longer found since 1999; it has also disappeared from Austria and the Netherlands. In Switzerland, it is threatened with extinction.

Globally, blue woodruff is not extinct. Its original range extends from Europe and the Mediterranean region to Western and Central Asia. It still occurs today, for example, in the Mediterranean region, North Africa, and the Middle East. Its disappearance from Germany shows how severely traditional arable wildflowers have suffered under modern agriculture, seed cleaning, herbicides, and the loss of extensively managed fields.

Anacamptis palustris elegans—a missing orchid of wet meadows

The marsh orchid Anacamptis palustris subsp. elegans (formerly Orchis palustris subsp. elegans) is a wild orchid of wet sites. It reaches heights of about 30 to 80 centimeters and has narrow, upright leaves as well as purple to pink-violet flowers. Its range lies east of Central Europe and extends through southeastern Europe, the Balkans, and the Caucasus region to Central and Southwest Asia.

In Germany, this subspecies occurred only at a few suitable wetland sites and has been considered extinct or no longer found according to the Red List since before 1970. It was tied to permanently wet to seasonally wet, base-rich lowland fens, wet meadows, and shoreline areas—habitats that declined sharply in Germany during the 20th century.

The most important causes of its disappearance were probably drainage, plowing, and the intensification of wet-meadow management, nutrient inputs, as well as the regulation of rivers and groundwater levels. Specialized wetland orchids depend on permanently high water levels, nutrient-poor to moderately nutrient-rich soils, and adapted management, such as late, extensive mowing or very gentle grazing. If such areas are drained, fertilized, mown too early or too frequently, plowed, or abandoned altogether, the conditions these orchids need disappear.

Water awlwort—a tiny plant from nutrient-poor lakes

Water awlwort (Subularia aquatica subsp. aquatica) is a small aquatic and shoreline plant in the mustard family. It usually grows only a few centimeters high and forms a small rosette of thin, awl-shaped leaves. Its white flowers rise above the water only when the water level is low enough; if they remain permanently submerged, the plant can also self-pollinate.

In Germany, water awlwort occurred on shallow, periodically flooded shores of nutrient-poor lakes. Such sites are highly sensitive: they need clear, rather acidic, nutrient-poor water, open shoreline areas, and natural water-level fluctuations. According to the Red List, the species has been considered extinct or no longer found in Germany since 1973; it is also extinct in Switzerland.

Water awlwort probably disappeared mainly because of the alteration of its aquatic habitats. Nutrient inputs, bank reinforcement, recreational use, water-level regulation, and siltation caused many open, nutrient-poor lake shores to disappear. For such a small, weakly competitive plant, this means that larger aquatic plants, reedbeds, or algae increase while its own open shoreline sites are lost.

Dwarf bulrush—gone with the wild rivers

The dwarf cattail (Typha minima) is a rare marsh plant of larger river floodplains. Its small, almost spherical fruiting spikes are conspicuous and clearly distinguish it from larger bulrush species. In Germany’s Red List, two subspecies are listed: Typha minima subsp. minima and Typha minima subsp. gracilis. According to the Red List, both disappeared from Germany before 2005.

The species was tied to dynamic river landscapes. It colonized open, periodically flooded sandy, silty, and gravelly banks, newly formed oxbow waters, quiet meanders, and sparsely vegetated alluvial deposits. Such sites arise where rivers still shift, flood, and repeatedly create new raw soils.

These natural river dynamics were lost on many large rivers. River regulation, bank reinforcement, gravel extraction, transport infrastructure construction, as well as groundwater and riverbed lowering, caused suitable floodplain sites to disappear. Without regular disturbance, open banks quickly become overgrown; the weakly competitive dwarf bulrush then loses its pioneer sites. In Germany, former occurrences have died out, while conservation and reintroduction projects are still underway in Switzerland and Austria.

Why plants disappear in Germany

The eight examples show a common pattern: what was lost was not only individual plant species, but entire site types. The waterwheel plant disappeared with nutrient-poor standing waters, the dwarf bulrush with dynamic river floodplains, yellow marsh saxifrage with intact bogs and fens, and blue woodruff and flaxfield catchfly with historical forms of arable farming.

The causes differ in detail, but follow the same principle: intensive agriculture, fertilization, herbicides, and seed cleaning displaced many arable wildflowers. Drainage, river regulation, bank reinforcement, and falling water levels altered bogs, fens, wetlands, and floodplains. Nutrient-poor, open sites were lost because they were abandoned, built over, afforested, or too heavily burdened with nutrients.

Many of these plants needed very precise conditions: few nutrients, open soils, enough light, natural water-level fluctuations, or extensive use. Once these conditions disappear, it is not enough that some “green” still exists somewhere. For specialized species, the habitat becomes uninhabitable.

Plant conservation therefore means more than collecting seeds or propagating individual plants. Seed banks, ex-situ conservation, and reintroductions can be important. The decisive factor, however, is that suitable habitats are preserved or restored: bogs and fens must remain wet or be rewetted, rivers need more natural dynamics, wet meadows need adapted management, and fields need space for wildflowers again. At the same time, nutrient inputs, land development, and further interventions must be reduced.

The disappearance of these plants shows how profoundly once species-rich biotopes have changed or been lost altogether.

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