| The last record of Dianthus superbus in the Netherlands dates back to 1905. In the summer of 1995 and 1996, however, a flowering individual was found beside the river Waal, close to Nijmegen in the East of the Netherlands. Spontaneous dispersal is doubted as natural dispersal from the nearest large wild populations in Germany should have taken place over approximately 150 km. Moreover, the plant appeared to be Dianthus superbus ssp. superbus. The distribution of this subspecies is restricted to wet peats and nutrientpoor soils, a very different habitat compared with the dyke area. Finally, the dyke area, in which the plant was found, was treated with a wild flower seed-mixture. Therefore, the species has to be transferred back to Red List category 0. |
