An extinct water-lily, Euryale limburgensis, belongs to a monotypic genus now confined to Assam and China; an extinct sedge, Dulichium vespiforme, belongs to a genus only living in America, though the only living species once flourished also in Denmark; an extinct species of water-aloe (Stratiotes elegans) makes a third genus, represented only by a single living species, which was evidently better represented in Pliocene times.
The Trust manages the sedge bed close to the car park.
The reedbeds and tall fen vegetation support nesting sedge and reed warblers as well as numerous cuckoos.
The meadow floods regularly, as indicated by the damp-loving grasses, including the uncommon brown sedge.
The rare broad-leaved cotton sedge also occurs below the Belmore cliffs.