The last stop on our Spring botanical tour was at L'Ancresse Common where we had seen so many special plants in June of 2004. We hoped to find the odd stem of this native Guernsey endemic which is also known as Dwarf Millet, emerging from its sheath and were delighted to find that it was actually at its best.

The plant itself is small and the stems lie almost horizontally amongst the rest of the grasses in the short turf of the common. It rarely reaches higher than a centimetre or two above the ground: Mibora minima which grows nearby, towers over it.

Milium vernale ssp sarniense grows only in Guernsey and the one at L'Ancresse is now very overgrown making this rare plant even harder to find.

L'Ancresse Common, Guernsey 16th April 2005

Added on April 17th 2005, updated 3rd January 2011