It is native to a restricted area along the shore of the Menai Strait in North Wales.

The native range along the strait is restricted to a 10 m (33 ft) wide strip along the shore encompassing no more than 0.1 km2 (24.7 acres).

[4] The earliest record of the species is an herbarium specimen collected by William Hunt Painter in 1879.

[3][5] The highly restricted native range puts the species at risk of extinction due to rising sea level induced habitat erosion.

[1] Additionally, two seed bank collections are maintained including one at the Millennium Seed Bank in Wakehurst Place,[1] and an immature specimen, raised from a seedling, was planted in the National Botanic Garden of Wales whitebeam grove in 2019.