Bog Asphodel

Little bone breaker

Bog-asphodel is a rare, lily-like plant that was once much more widespread. Today it is a little asphodel that is on the Red List.

In the past it was long thought that eating the plant caused brittle bones in sheep. A possible explanation for this is that the plant grows only on acidic soils, which is calcium-poor, and calcium is needed for strong bones. Moreover bog-asphodel also grows in places where livestock can easily become stuck such as boggy places on heath and peat land, along ditches in wet heath and on marshes.

In the province of Utrecht the bog-asphodel was also called gele wateraffodil or ‘yellow water daffodil’: 'water' because of its location and 'yellow daffodil’ because of its resemblance to the true yellow daffodil - a narcissus, which belongs to different family.

Very sensitive to drought

Bog asphodel has attractive yellow, star-shaped flowers and bright orange fruit. It grows in peat bogs and fens. In the past people thought that these plants gave cattle brittle bones -hence its Dutch vernacular name beenbreek, or its scientific species epithet ossifragum, both meaning ‘bone break’. This was not as strange as it might sound because this plant grows in calcium-poor soils on bumpy terrains where it is easy to fall over and break a leg. Bog asphodel is in many ways a special plant. It lives in a clean environment where there is a non-fluctuating, high groundwater level.

Ecology and habit

Bog asphodel has a limited distribution – west Europe. In the Netherlands it occurs only on the eastern, lime poor, sandy soils, boggy, acidic, nutrient-poor, peat soils or peaty clays and sandy ground. The species often grows on the edge of heather moorland that are showing the beginnings of raised peat bogs. The symbiotic association with mycorrhizal fungi in the roots enable the plant to be more efficient in taking up limited available nutrients from the soil. In the winter their habitats are submerged; in the summer the water level cannot drop more than 10 cm below ground level, as bog asphodel is very susceptible to drying out.

Threats

At the beginning of the last century, bog asphodel was commonplace in the east of the Netherlands. Through eutrophication, drainage and increased use of fertilisers the species has undergone a steep decline. Bog asphodel has now been given a legally protected status. Over the last few years there are a number of projects to improve the water management in and around fenland and on damp heather moorland. To achieve this trees surrounding fens are removed and active drainage ditches are filled. If the water table rises as a result then this will benefit several rare plants including the bog asphodel.