Planting Seeds for
the Future
from Wildlife Explorer, March/April 2004

You wake up with a stretch and a yawn to the sweet smell of lilac and the chirps of a nesting robin drifting in through your bedroom window screen. Pulling back your soft cotton sheets, you reach for your robe, which hangs on the oak bedpost. Shuffling your feet along the hardwood floor, you head into the bathroom. You continue your morning routine by brushing and flossing your teeth, and then hop into the shower for a quick shampoo, shave and lather. Wrapped in a fluffy cotton towel, you are enticed into the kitchen by the smell of fresh coffee. You mix a lump of sugar into your cup of joe, spread raspberry jam onto your whole wheat toast, grab a banana and settle into your favorite rocking chair to read the day’s newspaper.

Now go back and examine the previous paragraph. How many plant interactions did you have during just the first half-hour of the day? Cotton, wood, toothpaste, shampoo, coffee, newspaper—these are only a few things mentioned that come from plants. We often take for granted the fact that our lives, in truth, the life of the planet, depends on plants. Plants provide shelter, food, medicine and other beneficial products. They help maintain important ecological processes, such as oxygen production and water purification. They enrich our lives by enhancing our emotive experiences. Plants are absolutely essential to life on Earth and deserve our respect and protection.

Approximately one in every eight species of plant in the world is threatened with extinction, according to the World Conservation Union (IUCN), which amounts to nearly 34,000 of the known 270,000 plant species. The causes for concern are primarily attributed to human activities such as habitat destruction through logging, agriculture and development. Over-collection of rare plants in the wild coveted by collectors or used in traditional medicines is another problem. The introduction of exotic or invasive species that choke or push out native plants also endangers plants. Populations of some of these rare plants are so low that a single bad storm or collecting trip could wipe them out. As the human population grows, so does its influence on natural communities. Yet we can choose to have a positive influence on our living planet if we are informed, make a commitment and take action.

Conservation efforts are making a difference. For example, legislation, such as the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) and the U.S. Endangered Species Act, protects threatened plants from being damaged, over-collected and illegally sold. Control programs work to remove invasive species in areas where they wreak havoc on threatened plants. Established reserves protect threatened plants and their habitats. Habitat restoration helps ensure that species have enough habitat in which to survive. Developing methods and techniques to propagate plants in captivity provides plants for continued research and education through display without affecting wild populations. Propagated plants can even be reintroduced into the wild in some cases. Freezing, or cryopreserving, tissues and plant parts provides an extra safeguard against extinction. The following case studies provide several examples of such plant conservation in action.

Saving a Medical Miracle
A small unassuming plant with lavender flowers called the rosy periwinkle, Catharanthus roseus, is a classic example of an incredibly beneficial plant that may soon disappear unless we reexamine our actions. The periwinkle harbors cancer-curing chemicals, and science has yet to discover a way to synthetically produce the same medicinal qualities. Native only to Madagascar, an island off the southeast coast of Africa, rosy periwinkle grows in the tropical dry-forest. A burgeoning human population threatens to eliminate the island’s ever-dwindling forests, and in turn, the rosy periwinkle, as they practice slash-and-burn agriculture for subsistence.

Fortunately, rosy periwinkle populations on Madagascar appear to be stable and healthy—for the moment. Though modern medicine still relies on the use of actual plants, the species is relatively easy to cultivate and wild extraction is no longer necessary. Finding a way to end tropical forest destruction, however, is a perpetual struggle. Sustainable farming practices and alternative sources of income such as ecotourism are helping but cannot seem to keep up with the rate of human population growth. Continued conservation efforts will be the key to the rosy periwinkle’s survival.

A Violet Wanes in the Wild
The African violet, Saintpaulia spp., may be the world’s best-known plant, with thousands of varieties cultivated in all colors and shapes. However, it is also one of the world’s most endangered plant species, native to a very small region of southern Kenya and northeastern Tanzania. This region is under heavy pressure from a growing human population, and only small patches of forested cliffsides remain for African violets as trees have been cut down for firewood.

Scientists in CREW’s Plant Research Division are using tissue culture methods to grow several species of Saintpaulia. Tissue culture is a method whereby plants can be grown ex-situ (away from their habitat) and be protected from contamination from pests and diseases. CREW scientists are also working to develop methods for freezing, or cryopreserving, tissues from the African violet in liquid nitrogen for long-term storage. Once the method has been perfected, the information will be shared with colleagues in Africa and may one day lead to bolstering populations through reintroduction into the wild.

Loving an Orchid to Death?
More than 20,000 different species belong to the largest family of flowering plants, the orchids, which can be found on every continent except Antarctica. The colorful and uniquely-shaped Asian lady’s slipper orchids, Paphiopedilum spp., specifically occur in tropical Southeast Asia. Known for their beauty and mystique, lady’s slipper orchids are popular with collectors and considered a status symbol. While some species are very difficult to cultivate, others are relatively easy to grow in captivity yet are still collected from the wild. The desire to capture these delicate flowers, along with the rapid destruction of their rainforest habitat, is critically endangering the orchid’s survival in the wild.

Conservation efforts aim to curb the flower’s path to extinction. CITES limits the collection and international trade of orchids through a permit system. Other efforts, including in-situ protection, seed banking and education, are coordinated by the Orchid Specialist Group (OSG) of the Species Survival Commission (SSC) of the World Conservation Union (IUCN), which is an international network of more than 150 organizations committed to the conservation and sustainable use of orchid species and their habitats. The recent shift in attitudes of many orchid growers and collectors that now act responsibly and refuse to sell and buy wild-collected orchids is just one measure of a hopeful future for orchids, including the Asian lady’s slipper orchid, in the wild.

A Daisy Dilemma
The Lakeside daisy, with its single yellow flower atop a tall green stalk, is the most vivid yet also rarest of Ohio’s 200 state endangered plants. The sun-loving daisy has adapted to live where few other flowers can survive, on limestone bedrock of the dry prairie. The daisy was once widespread throughout the prairies of the Midwest, but limestone quarrying has completely wiped out entire populations of the Lakeside daisy. Additionally, fire suppression has allowed shrubs and trees to encroach and cast shadows on the prairie, leaving too little sun for the daisies. Listed federally as a threatened species in 1988, the daisy’s only remaining natural population occurs on a particular peninsula of Lake Erie near Lakeside, Ohio.

Despite a precarious history, the daisy continues to hang on in the wild with the aid of conservation endeavors. The Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) purchased part of the peninsula’s abandoned quarry and established a preserve to protect the species where visitors today can look out on a golden blanket of Lakeside daisies. Scientists also have succeeded in cultivating the species in captivity and reintroducing it into areas of its historical range. With a little help, this hardy little wildflower will live to soak in the sun for many years to come.

Trillium in Trouble
Undisturbed hardwood forests are difficult to come by today and so is the endangered herbaceous flower known as the relict trillium, Trillium reliquum, which inhabits only relicts of its original range throughout the forests of the southeastern United States. Several different factors contribute to the loss and alteration of the three-leaved plant’s habitat, including residential and agricultural development, logging and quarrying. The rapid spreading of two introduced vines, Japanese honeysuckle and kudzu, also poses a serious threat. Introduced initially to prevent soil erosion and as ornamental plants, these vines have grown out of control. Seemingly without limits, the vines blanket and choke out native species, including the relict trillium.

The relict trillium was federally listed as an endangered species in 1988, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service enacted a recovery plan in 1990. Working with state agencies and private landowners, the plan includes purchasing and protecting the habitat upon which populations still occur and finding ways to rid the areas of Japanese honeysuckle and kudzu. The introduced vines are persistent and it takes intensive management to control them. Educating the public about the consequences of planting exotic species has played a large role in curbing their takeover of natural communities. With hard work and good luck, the dark purple to yellow flowers of the relict trillium will continue to bloom and brighten the forest floor.

Threatened plant species will not recover as a result of the work of conservation organizations and scientists alone. Every person plays a role in determining the fate of our green planet. How will you help pull plants out of peril?