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Gagea serotina, synonym Lloydia serotina, is an Arctic–alpine flowering plant of the Liliaceae. Flora of North America Vol. 26 Page 198 Lloydia serotina (Linnaeus) Salisbury ex Reichenbach, Fl. Germ. Excurs. 102. 1830. It is widespread across the mountainous parts of western North America, from Alaska to New Mexico, and in Europe is found in the Alps, the Carpathians and the mountains of Bulgaria, as well as in Great Britain. It is also native to much of Central Asia, Siberia, China, Nepal, Mongolia, Korea and Japan. Kew World Checklist of Selected Plant Families, Gagea serotina Biota of North America Program 2014 county distribution map
It was originally known as mountain spiderwort, but is now known in Great Britain as the Snowdon lily, or in Welsh language as lili'r Wyddfa. In North America, it is called the common alplily. It is also known as Snowdon alplily.
In Great Britain, G. serotina is an glacial relict, only found on a few inaccessible sites in Snowdonia National Park, Cwm Idwal being one such site, and seems to have developed in isolation since the glacial period. Although the total Welsh population may number fewer than 100 , the Welsh plants are genetically distinct from other populations of the same species, and are more diverse than those found in the Alps.
While their inaccessibility protects the plants to a certain degree against grazing by sheep and trampling by , they are likely to suffer under climate change, and it is believed that G. serotina will be the first plant to become extinct in Great Britain as a result of global warming. Plans are therefore being considered to introduce the plant to sites in Scotland, where it may survive in the longer term.
It became a protected species in the UK in 1975 under the Conservation of Wild Creatures and Wild Plants Act.
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