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Press Information Plants back from the brink of extinction at Kew Gardens Nymphaea thermarum (Common name: ‘thermal’ waterlily) • Endemic to one known location in south west Rwanda • Disappeared 2 years ago due to over-use of hot spring feeding its habitat • Entire population of just 30 plants believed to be found just at Kew Gardens • Believed to be smallest waterlily in the world (smallest pads 1cm) • Also a ‘no-waterlily’: does not grow submerged in deep water • Uses: Some species of waterlily are edible, such as Nymphaea gigantea and N. carpentariae, which are a food source for Aboriginal people Ramosmania rodriguesii (Common name: café marron) • Restricted to island of Rodrigues, Republic of Mauritius • Thought to be extinct for 40 years, but 1 individual rediscovered • Cuttings sent to Kew Gardens in 1986; several specimens regularly flowered • However, never set seed until a pollination breakthrough in 2003 when café marron bore its first fruit with viable seeds. This made possible the reintroduction of this species into the wild • In April 2010, more than 300 seeds and seedlings were repatriated • Seed is stored in Kew’s Millennium Seed Bank • Uses: It is believed a tea made from the leaves can treat venereal diseases and hangovers, although this has not been scientifically proven • http://www.kew.org/plants-fungi/Ramosmania-rodriguesii.htm Mellissia begoniifolia (Common name: St Helena boxwood) • From St Helena in the South Atlantic • Small evergreen shrub from the potato family which grows on rocky shores and hills – affectionately known as ‘the ugliest plant at Kew’ • Currently extinct in the wild: recently, the last known wild population of just seven individuals died • 13,000 seeds from Kew have been sent to St Helena for germination in a conservation nursery and it has also been introduced into several sites where it originally grew • Seed is stored in Kew’s Millennium Seed Bank • http://www.kew.org/plants-fungi/Mellissia-begoniifolia.htm Acacia anegadensis (Common name: poke-me-boy) • Thought to occur on only one island in the British Virgin Islands (Anegada Island), until a small population was discovered in 2008 on the small uninhabited island of Fallen Jerusalem • Critically endangered: a small tree under threat from global warming (at its highest point Anegada Island is only 3m above sea level) • Kew has completed a propagation protocol, essentially a blueprint for cultivation for conservationists in BVI • Seed is stored in Kew’s Millennium Seed Bank • Uses: It is a coastal species that tolerates salinity and wind exposure, and is therefore useful for avoiding coastal soil erosion Rondeletia buxifolia (Common name: pribby) • Endemic to Montserrat Island and critically endangered • Kew has been working with the Montserrat National Trust to conserve the island’s plant life, much of which was destroyed by volcanic activity in 1997 • The Botanic Garden in Montserrat has planted a demonstration hedge of Rondeletia buxifolia along the garden boundary, demonstrating its potential as a native hedging plant instead of exotic species that are a threat to the island’s endemic plants • Seed is stored in Kew’s Millennium Seed Bank • http://www.kew.org/plants-fungi/Rondeletia-buxifolia.htm Epidendrum montserratense (Common name: Montserrat orchid) • Endemic to Montserrat, habitat loss due to volcanic activity • Plants on display are very small and have just been weaned from Kew’s Conservation Biotechnology Unit (CBU), where they were growing in culture • Many plants have been re-established in the Botanic Garden in Montserrat – these plants were rescued from the limbs of dead trees in the area affected by the volcano • Seed is stored in Kew’s Millennium Seed Bank • http://www.kew.org/plants-fungi/Epidendrum-montserratense.htm Pteris adscensionis • Endemic fern from Ascension Island • Pteris adscensionis is critically endangered; very small populations in just 3 sites in Ascension • Kew’s CBU has successfully propagated this species and stored it in liquid nitrogen at -196 degree C as a method of long term storage. It is also growing in Kew’s Tropical Nursery • The Ascension Island Conservation Officer has been to Kew to learn fern propagation techniques and Kew has helped set up a micropropagation laboratory on the island Cylindrocline lorencei • From Mauritius, considered to be extinct in the wild since 1990 • Rescued by Brest Botanic Gardens by rescuing embryos in vitro from nonviable seeds • Plants were grown in-vitro and a back-up collection was sent to Kew (partnership working between botanic gardens is vital for successful conservation) • Plants were micropropagated in the CBU at Kew and a collection developed for repatriation • Three years ago Kew repatriated 15 plants and re-introduction to the wild is planned to start soon http://www.kew.org/plants-fungi/Cylindrocline-lorencei.htm • Tahina spectabilis (Common name: dimaka) • From Madagascar; biggest threat is habitat loss • An enormous palm (trunk over 18m high) that remained undetected until 2007 • Its discovery captured the imagination of the world’s media, who dubbed it the ‘suicide palm’ (thought to grow for 50 years, flowers spectacularly, then dies) • Seed has been distributed to botanic gardens around the world to ensure exsitu conservation • http://www.kew.org/plants-fungi/Tahina-spectabilis.htm Trochetiopsis ebenus (Common name: St Helena Ebony) • Once widespread on the island of St Helena • Survives in the wild as just two bushes perched high on a cliff • In the 1980s staff from Kew worked with the islanders to develop methods of propagating the species from cuttings • Since then thousands of cuttings have been reintroduced at natural sites on the island as well as in private gardens • Seed is stored in Kew’s Millennium Seed Bank • http://www.kew.org/plants-fungi/Trochetiopsis-ebenus.htm Abutilon pitcairnense • Only found on the island of Pitcairn, in the Pacific Ocean • Presumed extinct until a flowering specimen was rediscovered in 2003 • Propagated just before its site was destroyed by a landslide • Along with Nymphaea thermarum is one of the newest additions to Kew’s conservation collection • The plant on display is very young, but it will be spectacular when it matures (bright yellow flowers) • Rooted from cuttings taken from plants at the National Botanic Gardens of Ireland in Dublin Photos are available to download at www.kew.org/press For further information and a password please contact Bronwyn Friedlander, Bryony Phillips, Jo Maxwell and Tarryn Barrowman at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew press office on 020 8332 5607 or email [email protected]