News

In Guam, the invasive insect pest Cycad Aulacaspis Scale, which arrived via horticultural imports, has caused devastating impact on the Micronesian cyad (Cycas micronesica). Learn how the impressive conservation efforts of Montgomery Botanic Center, a CPC Network Partner, served as an important safeguard against the species’ extinction.

The Isle of Enchantment has many treasures. Among them is our Conservation Champion for April 2020, Omar Monsegur-Rivera, a man who watches out for the diverse and numerous endangered flowering and non-flowering plants of Puerto Rico. Through his actions, some of the rarest ferns in Puerto Rico are thriving in cultivation at Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden.

Not long ago, running buffalo clover (Trifolium stoloniferum) was thought by many to be extinct. Yet, this past fall, it joined a select few species considered recovered enough for delisting from the Endangered Species Act. This noteworthy event is a result of the extensive work that has gone into recovery efforts at the Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Garden’s Center for Conservation and Research of Endangered Wildlife (CREW).

While dangling from ropes on a cliffside in Kaua’i in 1991, Research Biologist Ken Wood made an exciting discovery – a previously undescribed species of hau kuahiwi, or mountain hibiscus (Hibiscadelphus), a rare genus found only in Hawai’i. A recent drone program instituted by NTBG showed the importance of this technology in rare plant surveying when a drone flight caught the first glimpse of this species in nearly a decade.

Wes Knapp is leading an important effort to assess plant extinction in North America north of Mexico. Taking up this cause of understanding extinction has opened his eyes to the extent of our knowledge, and sometimes our lack of knowledge, about rare plants.

Reports on butterfly decline have spurred gardeners across the country into action, eager to help the butterfly by making up for lost habitat and planting caterpillar food – milkweed – in their gardens. Unfortunately, many were planting tropical milkweed, which were actually leading to parasitic infections in adult butterflies. Read more about the plants you should plant.

This month's Conservation Champion, Polly Pierce, was part of the circle of people instrumental in ensuring the early success of the Center for Plant Conservation and dedicated many years to serving on the CPC board. Today, Polly continues to support CPC with her generosity and wisdom.

If you have a chance to be in Dan Gluesenkamp’s orbit, you will experience someone with a stunning passion for plants. A brilliant orator, he has the ability to paint a vibrant picture of his conservation dreams. Perhaps even more important, he will leave you with a great sense of hope.

This month we take the opportunity to more thoroughly introduce our readers to the CPC’s new President and CEO, Dr. Joyce Maschinski. We at CPC look forward to Joyce’s leadership as we march forward to save plants.

A few years ago, Naomi Fraga became Director of Conservation Programs at RSABG, tasked with formally bringing together their well established and diverse plant conservation projects under one umbrella. Having built her career to help conserve the plants she loves, she has thrived in the role, building upon the garden’s rich history of conservation work.