Save Plants

I began my service as Mercer’s botanist and conservation manager in 2000. With CPC sponsorship stipends helping to fund expenses such as equipment, horticultural supplies, and travel costs for seed collections and field work, it made sense to me that sponsoring plants in the National Collection would help sustain Mercer’s native plant conservation program. Texas trailing phlox (Phlox nivalis spp. texensis), a beautiful, federally listed ‘Big Thicket’ Texas species, seemed like a perfect candidate for sponsorship. Mercer seed banks this species, assists reintroductions, and maintains educational displays in our Endangered Species and Native Plant Garden. Sponsorship was completed in 2003 by The River Oaks Garden Club; The Mercer Society’s ‘Mercer Memorial Trust Fund’; Mercer Volunteer Native Plant Team chairpersons, the late David C. Berkshire and Carol Kobb (in memory of her friend Millie Guadino); Mercer colleague and CPC ‘Conservation Champion’ Suzzanne Chapman in honor of her parents, Ann C. Baumer and Derek Chapman; and myself, in memory of my parents, Ruth L. and Werner G. Tiller.

As part of our service to Harris County, staff provide tours and lectures about the benefits of native plants and Mercer’s role in plant conservation. Our plant sponsorship donors include the garden clubs, members of the Texas Master Gardener, Naturalist, and Native Plant Society organizations that attend our lectures and tours. Donors include private individuals, nature-based organizations, volunteers, and sponsors recruited by the CPC National Office. Plant sponsorship donations often serve as memorials, and volunteers are among our most dedicated donors. The Gibson family—retired volunteers who worked alongside Suzzanne Chapman—completed full sponsorship of Texas windmill grass (Chloris texensis) in 2019 and Louisiana quillwort  (Isoetes louisianensis) in 2020, and hope to complete the sponsorship of Scarlet catchfly, Silene subciliata (Caryophyllaceae) this year.

Our plant sponsorship efforts would not be possible without the support of Harris County staff and our non-profit arm, The Mercer Society. Harris County staff produced the educational brochure ‘Preserving Imperiled Plants’ and interpretive signage for Mercer’s Endangered Species and Native Plant Garden, and expanded our website to include a Plant Conservation section with links to CPC species profiles. These educational tools feature color images of National Collection species, acknowledge sponsorship donors, and help communicate the need to support rare and native plant conservation. Volunteer citizen scientists also provide integral support to Mercer’s native plant conservation and botany programs, including our curatorial, collections database, herbarium, library, garden signage and internship programs.

Mercer currently maintains 29 National Collection species with 10 fully and 5 partially sponsored species. Ongoing in situ projects include the management of naturally occurring populations of four rare saline prairie National Collection species at the Harris County Prairie Dawn Preserve. This tiny, less-than-4-acre preserve, located within Houston’s urban sprawl, was constructed in 2012-2013 and already shows promise. Texas prairie dawn and rare associate species are part of over 200 native species sheltered there. The preserve’s Texas windmill grass population currently represents the largest known population of this rare endemic.

This year, Mercer will propose additional vulnerable southeast Texas species for the National Collection. We thank the CPC Plant Sponsorship program for providing support to our efforts for the conservation of Texas and Gulf Coast flora. Through this funding, the CPC is helping Mercer fulfill its mission ‘to improve the quality of life and inspire the greater appreciation of the essential value and beauty of the plant world’ for the thousands of children and adults that tour our gardens and facilities and attend our programs.

RSBSB began in 1983 as the Berry Botanic Garden Seed Bank for Rare and Endangered Species of the Pacific Northwest, the first seed bank in the country dedicated exclusively to endangered species. When the Berry Botanic Garden closed in 2011, its seed bank and conservation program joined Portland State University’s School of the Environment as a self-supporting program in the Department of Environmental Science and Management. Dr. Ed Guerrant (PhD, Botany) was Director of the Seed Bank between 1989 and 2018, and Dr. Gabriel Campbell became the most recent Director of the Seed Bank in January 2022.

Our primary conservation activities include seed processing and long-term storage; research to determine germination requirements and viability of seeds; and coordinating interns and volunteers to monitor plant populations, collect data, and collect and process seeds. We hold more than 23,000 seed accessions, representing close to 400 of our region’s rarest and most vulnerable plants. These serve as an insurance policy against local extinction events—a serious possibility for many endangered plants. We also hold over 100 accessions from common species of Oregon. Seeds are held primarily for use in reintroduction of plant populations to suitable habitat, research, and restoration projects. Seed storage is central and crucial to our mission.

RSBSB stewards 148 rare plant species in the Center for Plant Conservation’s (CPC) National Collection, 28 of which are sponsored through the CPC Plant Sponsorship program. This program has helped grow our seed bank by providing direct financial support for various aspects of our conservation work.

While the majority of our CPC-sponsored rare plant species are dormant seeds, RSBSB also conducts conservation activities with some live plants, such as the western lily (Lilium occidentale), a federal and state (OR and CA) listed endangered species. Around half of the known populations have been extirpated, especially those near the center of its narrow range along the Pacific Coast, straddling the CA/OR border. With a stunningly beautiful flower, it’s no surprise that horticultural collecting and flower picking are among the greatest threats to this species, as well as land development, agricultural conversion, and soil compaction.

To protect the western lily, RSBSB has conducted a long-standing conservation program in three study sites that encompass all known western lily plants on federal land. The first monitors a reintroduction project initiated in 1996, when there were no known populations on federal land. Another monitors the demographics of a small, naturally occurring population discovered on federal land in 2008, and the third monitors a 2015 population augmentation.

The 1996 reintroduction was designed to test two management hypotheses: does propagule type (small plants, new seed, or old seed) and/or removal of ground cover at planting time affect establishment and subsequent plant survival and growth rate? An initial sample of 760 propagules was outplanted, mapped and marked. Data are gathered annually on leaf area, number of leaves, and number of flowers; herbivory is also noted and categorized. To date, we have found that propagule type does have a long-term impact, but initial removal of ground cover does not.

Discovery of a small, naturally occurring population of 16 western lilies in 2008 spurred RSBSB to begin a demographic study, and to search the surroundings for more plants and appropriate habitat. We surveyed an area containing the entire population, constructed a one-meter grid, generated a three-dimensional vegetation map, and installed two wells to measure ground water levels over time. We mapped and marked all western lily plants in the site to allow us to follow size and status of individual plants over time. In the fall of 2015, we also began an experimental augmentation to increase numbers of this species, further enhancing recovery.

This year marks the 26th year of our reintroduction of this special lily. There is something very satisfying about studying a place over many years, appreciating how it both changes and stays the same. An ongoing contract with the Bureau of Land Management has funded the monitoring of these sites for over two decades. The CPC Plant Sponsorship program supports our work to maintain and supplement a source of viable Lilium occidentale seeds, one of the many essential tasks of RSBSB’s conservation program. Our in situ work is grounded in a healthy and substantial collection of genetic material and the efforts and expertise of properly recompensed staff.

While RSBSB is known and valued globally for our support of regional biodiversity and contributions to other plant conservation programs, our work is of greatest value to the Pacific Northwest. As we evolve to meet new and increasing conservation threats, we find ourselves concentrating more and more on our home state. Our focus—our passion—is to pass the abundant biodiversity we have inherited forward to future generations.

It helps that 16 of the National Collection species are sponsored. The dependable annual support from these sponsorships helps the Arboretum provide care and cover operational costs of facilities for the ex situ collections. The Arboretum maintains a Micropropagation Lab, Seed Conservation Lab, and Hawaiian Rare Plant Nursery as part of their Hawaiian Rare Plant Program (HRPP). With over 200 species on the brink of extinction (50 individuals or fewer in the wild), there is no shortage of species in need. The amount and type of material brought in, as well as the species biology and future conservation plans, all determine whether a species is conserved as a seed, tissue culture, or living collection. Some species, such as Diamond Head schiedea (Schiedea adamantis), are conserved in all three collection types: 300,000+ seeds, ~150 explants in culture, and 12 plants in the nursery.

Diamond Head schiedea is a CPC Sponsored species. It was brought into Lyon’s Hawaiian Rare Plant Program over 20 years ago by a partner, like many of Lyon’s collections. In this case, staff from the Plant Extinction Prevention Program (PEPP, known at that time as the Hawaii Genetic Safety Net Program) brought seed from one of only two remaining sites. Because the collections were made decades ago, the Lyon collections hold valuable genetic diversity that is no longer present in the wild populations, which have dwindled to only a few dozen plants. The collections act as a safeguard against extinction, should anything happen to one or both of the wild populations. They also provide source material for propagation and restoration efforts carried out by Lyon’s partner organizations.

Timothy stresses that Lyon Arboretum program is focused on maintaining Diamond Head schiedea and its other National Collection species in ex situ collections, where their expertise lies — but they know that these collections are only a part of the solution. HRPP team members develop protocols for both maintenance and propagation, balancing the need to learn from the collections with the urgency of minimizing risk to this extremely valuable and limited plant material. They also face the challenge of planning for how and when to eventually withdraw plants from the collections for use in restoration or the regeneration of other collections. Lyon works with partners, especially PEPP and Hawaii’s Division of Forestry and Wildlife, to determine recollection and restoration needs.

For some of these species, protected and managed habitat is simply not available to support reintroduction into the wild. And greenhouse space is limited. But there is another option for living plants – Lyon Arboretum has been expanding the use of its grounds to support rare Hawaiian plants. They are using the Arboretum to establish inter situ collections, collections that are maintained and managed outside of a species habitat. Baker’s loulu (Pritchardia bakeri), a National Collection species available for sponsorship, is a candidate for an inter situ collection. This species, one of the few palms native to Hawaii, is named for the late head groundskeeper of the Arboretum, Ray Baker. Lyon is working with PEPP to secure material from each of the remaining wild populations for conservation plantings on grounds. A sponsorship for Baker’s loulu would help the team carry out more collection trips, propagate plants in the greenhouse, and establish this important inter situ collection.

While that project develops, Timothy has plenty to do in the nursery, and so do the teams in the micropropagation lab, seed bank, and on the grounds. Maintaining National Collection species, sponsored and unsponsored, is a never-ending job in Hawai’i. Every little bit helps, and having even 16% of their National Collections species sponsored has helped Lyon ensure that more of Hawaii’s rare plants will be here in the future.

 “Our Foundation found the idea of fully sponsoring all of the Missouri rare plants appealing. Our Foundation focuses on Missouri flora (as well as fauna). We appreciate that plant sponsorship provides an immediate benefit to the sponsored plants and their host institutions (in our case mostly Missouri Botanical Garden).  As funds from sponsorships and their earnings grow over time, they contribute to the more general plant conservation work of the CPC for both the particular sponsored plants as well as for all of the endangered species in the National Collection.” – Andy Love

Mr. Love was Chairman, Co-CEO and a principal owner of Love Savings Holding Company prior to the merger of it and its subsidiaries, Heartland Bank and Love Funding Corporation, with Midland States Bancorp.  He is currently Chairman and Co-CEO of Hallmark Investment Corporation and a manager of its subsidiary, Allegro Senior Living, LLC.  Mr. Love has over 40 years of experience in real estate and finance. Formerly, he was a partner at the St. Louis law firm of Bryan, Cave, McPheeters, and McRoberts. He has served as a board member of many charitable organizations, including the St. Louis Symphony Society, St. Louis Country Day School, St. Louis Repertory Theatre, the Missouri Chapter of the Nature Conservancy, Webster University, the Edward K. Love Conservation Foundation and the Martha Love Symington Charitable Foundation / Love Family Charitable Trust.  Mr. Love received an A.B. degree from Harvard College and an LL.B. degree from the Harvard Law School.

National Collection Spotlight: Colorado Hookless Cactus (Sclerocactus glaucus)

The Colorado hookless cactus (Sclerocactus glaucus) can be difficult to find in the river alluvium habitat it calls home in western Colorado and eastern Utah; the perennial stem can be inconspicuous in the coarse gravel – and even shrink below the ground during large stretches of the year – making these plants difficult to spot and identify when not in bloom. Fortunately, this federally threatened cactus produces striking pink flowers which bloom from April to May.

Nearly all populations are threatened with habitat destruction or modification from energy extraction developments, water storage projects, transportation, and residential facilities. Other ongoing threats include impacts from moss-rock and rip-rap collecting operations, illegal plant collection, and damage from recreational use or livestock trampling. Denver Botanic Gardens maintains a seed collection and has established macroplots of Colorado Hookless cactus populations to monitor demographic trends as part of its conservation efforts to save this species from extinction.

Learn more about the Colorado hookless cactus on its National Collection Plant Profile and support its conservation with a Plant Sponsorship.

2022 CPC National Meeting

May 4-6, 2022

Registration is now live for the 2022 CPC National Meeting – our first-ever hybrid meeting! The theme of this year’s meeting will be “Celebrating Conservation Milestones,” with both in-person and online presentation sessions including updates from the CPC National Office on network-wide initiatives, plus lightning talks from CPC network partners on plant conservation research, accomplishments, and challenges. In-person sessions will be held at the Denver Botanic Gardens and will be live streamed and recorded for later viewing on the Whova conference platform used by the CPC National Office for our 2020 and 2021 virtual meetings. Virtual attendees will also have access to pre-recorded presentation content and virtual break out sessions.

Early bird registration is available through April 1 – register today to get the discounted rate!