An axiophyte (Greek: "worthy plant") is a plant that is of particular interest to botanists, conservationists and ecologists. The significance of axiophytes is from their strong association with habitats considered to be of high merit for conservation. Axiophytes are a relatively recent concept which has its roots in such ideas as "

ancient woodland In the United Kingdom, an ancient woodland is a woodland that has existed continuously since 1600 or before in England, Wales and Northern Ireland (or 1750 in Scotland). Planting of woodland was uncommon before those dates, so a wood present in 16 ...

indicator species". According to the BSBI around 40% of plant species can be considered axiophytes. Very rare species are not considered axiophytes; for a species to be a useful indicator of quality habitat it must be relatively frequent in those habitats, but scarce elsewhere. A typical example would be dog's mercury (''

Mercurialis perennis ''Mercurialis perennis'', commonly known as dog's mercury, is a poisonous woodland plant found in much of Europe as well as in Algeria, Iran, Turkey, and the Caucasus, but almost absent from Ireland, Orkney and Shetland.Indicator species A bioindicator is any species (an indicator species) or group of species whose function, population, or status can reveal the qualitative status of the environment. The most common indicator species are animals. For example, copepods and other sma ...

References

{{reflist Plant conservation