Conserving Threatened Rare Plants: Some Nursery Strategies
The legacy of the 1992 Earth Summit and the mandates of the Convention on Biodiversity have influenced the propagation of threatened and endangered native plants. Minimum viable population guidelines, appropriate gene pool sampling, micropropagation techniques, and strategies for returning propagules to the environment guide the development of conservation plans. The rare Pacific Northwest endemics Phlox idahonis, Douglasia idahoensis, and Hackelia venusta; oceanic island megararities; and once-abundant but now uncommon plants were evaluated for both ex situ plant recovery programs and other propagation opportunities. Micropropagating seed conserved scarce germplasm of rare Astragalus,Carex, and Lepidium species. The strategy of first propagating the common species, Astragalusaquilonius, was successful in culturing the closely related rare species A. amblytropis. Nurserymen can participate in species recovery programs, propagate regional rarities to promote conservation education, and prevent further decline of once-abundant native plants.
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Author(s): John L. Edson, David L. Wenny, Annette D. Leege-Brusven, Richard L. Everett, Douglass M. Henderson
Publication: National Nursery Proceedings - 1994
Event:
Combined Western Forest Nursery Association and the Forest Nursery Association of British Columbia
1994 - Moscow, ID
