The Guardian reports pavement chalking to draw attention to wild flowers and plants in urban areas has gone viral across Europe – but UK chalkers could face legal action

A rising international force of rebel botanists armed with chalk has taken up street graffiti to highlight the names and importance of the diverse but downtrodden flora growing in the cracks of paths and walls in towns and cities across Europe.

The idea of naming wild plants wherever they go – which began in France – has gone viral, with people chalking and sharing their images on social media. More than 127,000 people have liked a photo of chalked-up tree names in a London suburb, while a video of botanist Boris Presseq of Toulouse Museum of Natural History chalking up names to highlight street flowers in the French city has had 7m views.

Photo by Erich Ferdinand under creative commons.

The BBC reports a project to save a “super-rare” orchid from extinction has seen numbers rise from 200 to 4,000 in eight years. Concern for the future of the fen orchid prompted action among the sand dunes at Kenfig National Nature Reserve, Bridgend, in 2011.

Wardens can no longer count them in one day as there are so many, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service. The success has been attributed to the work of wardens and volunteers managing the 1,300-acre (530-hectare) reserve.