In 1962 botanist Dick Roberts found a sprig of a plant on Cwm Idwal.
He sent it to Ness Botanic Garden and they confirmed it as Irish saxifrage. This plant species has never been seen before or since in the whole of Snowdonia.
Luckily, another botanist, Morris Morris, grew cuttings from that sprig and passed these onto the Garden.
We used DNA to see how closely it is related to the Irish saxifrage that still grows in Ireland. With the use of phylogenetic analysis, the taxonomic complexity of the UK saxifrages was highlighted and the need to keep these species separate in cultivation to avoid hybridisation, reiterated. The levels of genetic diversity in species in this group may be important for their survival and their ability to cope with changing conditions.
