Conservation: Springtime in The Southwest
Conservation: Springtime in The Southwest
Conservation: Springtime in The Southwest
Board of Trustees Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum Botanical Garden National Office Staff
C.W. Eliot Paine, Chairman The Arnold Arboretum of Waimea Valley Audubon Center Kathryn L. Kennedy, Ph.D.,
Kathryn L. Kennedy, Ph.D., Harvard University St. George Village Botanic President and Executive Director
President and Executive The Berry Botanic Garden Garden, Affiliate Institution Maria Bradford, Development
Director Brooklyn Botanic Garden Manager
Polly Pierce, Vice-President Center for Urban Horticulture Science Advisory Council Paul Groenier, Conservation
Emmy White Seymour, Secretary Chicago Botanic Garden Barbara A. Schaal, Ph.D., Chair Programs Information
Hooker Talcott, Jr., Treasurer Denver Botanic Gardens Marie Bruegmann Coordinator
Jack Baker Desert Botanical Garden John Fay, Ph.D. Elizabeth Garcia-Dominguez,
Anne Foreman Barnes Fairchild Tropical Garden Richard Koske, Ph.D. Communications Coordinator
Robert Breunig, Ph.D. Harold L. Lyon Arboretum Eric Menges, Ph.D. Megan Cotter, Conservation
Patricia R. Bush Historic Bok Sanctuary Clifford Morden, Ph.D. Technician
Ann Coburn The Holden Arboretum Larry Morse, Ph.D. Donna Key, Administrative
Paul Alan Cox, Ph.D. Honolulu Botanical Gardens Peggy Olwell Assistant
Richard H. Daley Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Bruce Pavlik, Ph.D. Volunteers
Julia Bissell Leisenring Center Valerie Pence, Ph.D. Lois Batchelder, Marie Bergmann,
Richard Lighty, Ph.D. Mercer Arboretum and Botanic Jackie Poole Lori Calcaterra, Nancy Fetter,
Jonathan Loring Gardens Vincent Tepedino, Ph.D. Benjamin Kennedy, David
Andrew S. Love, Jr. Missouri Botanical Garden Warren Wagner, Ph.D. Kennedy, Dorothalyn Key, David
John McPheeters The Morton Arboretum Christina Walters, Ph.D. Lehleitner, Mary Serbi, Sue
Ladeen Miller National Tropical Botanical George Yatskievych, Ph.D. Slivka, Kathy White
Janet Meakin Poor Garden
The Center for Plant Conser- Telephone: (314) 577-9450
Edward Schneider, Ph.D. New England Wild Flower
vation is a national not-for-profit E-mail: cpc@mobot.org
Jocelyn Sladen Society
organization hosted by the Mis- Website:
Mary Ann Streeter The New York Botanical Garden
souri Botanical Garden in St. Louis www.centerforplantconservation.org
William A. Truslow, Esq. The North Carolina Arboretum
and governed by an independent
Peter S. White, Ph.D. North Carolina Botanical Garden
board of trustees. Plant Conservation is published quarterly. If
Peter Wyse Jackson, Ph.D. Rancho Santa Ana Botanic
A network of more than 30 bo- you’d like to submit articles, pictures, or an-
Peter Ashton, Ph.D., Trustee Garden
tanical gardens and arboreta, the nouncements, please contact CPC at (314)
Emeritus Red Butte Garden and
Center’s mission is to conserve and 577-9450 or cpc@mobot.org. Or mail items
Arboretum
restore the rare native plants of the to CPC, P.O. Box 299, St. Louis, MO 63166.
Participating Institutions Regional Parks Botanic Garden
United States.
Amy B.H. Greenwell San Antonio Botanical Garden
Ethnobotanical Garden Santa Barbara Botanic Garden This newsletter is printed on recycled
The Arboretum at Flagstaff University of California paper with soy ink.
sults show that after more than six Six months later, the progress report
months, 84 percent of the plants are thriv- shows that all the hard work is paying off.
ing in their new home. While previous transplant experiments re-
Since the plants at the proposed road sulted in only 50 percent survival, this time
site had grown into woody shrubs five or 84 percent of the cliffrose plants are still
six feet tall, it was impossible to trans- doing well. Department of Transportation
plant whole plants. Instead, the scientists funds have supported twice-weekly water-
focused on collecting seeds and cuttings from the popula- ing, and when that grant runs out the work will be shoul-
tion over the course of a year, later growing cloned plants dered by volunteers from the Forest Service and the Nature
in the greenhouse from these materials. Conservancy, which plans to buy the cliffrose habitat cur-
Then last spring, scientists located protected lands, owned rently owned by the county. And that means that the coyotes
by the Forest Service and the county, with habitats similar to and lizards will still be able to enjoy the shade of this native
the original site. With the hard work of many volunteers, Flag- treasure, and Arizona will have preserved another piece of
staff botanists transplanted the greenhouse-grown plants along the Southwest’s natural heritage.
3 www.centerforplantconservation.org
Can a plant be loved to death?
As southwest landscaping grows in (Echinocereus chisoensis var. April, tucked under larger “nurse”
popularity, so does illegal poaching of chisoensis), found only in Big Bend Na- plants to ensure their survival. The in-
threatened native cacti. In the wide- tional Park, offers beautiful bright-pink formation from the experiment will
open spaces of West Texas and Big blooms with crimson centers. Unfortu- help researchers understand the relative
Bend National Park, these rare floral nately, there may be less than a dozen genetic strength of the wild-growing
gems are rapidly disappearing as col- sites of this threatened desert cacti left in population.
lectors root them out of their few re- the wild. Illegal commercial poaching of Another at-risk cactus found at Big
maining populations. Now, two threat- this showy cactus has contributed to its Bend, Lloyd’s mariposa cactus
ened desert cacti are getting a helping decline. In partnership with botanists at (Sclerocactus mariposensis), is prized
hand from Desert Botanical Garden, the Park and at Angelo State University, for its diminutive size. Like the Chisos
a CPC participating institution in Phoe- Kathy Rice of Desert Botanical Garden Hedgehog cactus, Lloyd’s mariposa
nix, Arizona. is testing germination requirements for cactus has been decimated in many ar-
The Chisos Hedgehog cactus the cactus. eas by over-collection.
First, researchers from the But as with all our imperiled
University conducted con- plants, there are other threats push-
trolled cross-pollinations of in- ing the species towards extinction.
dividual plants growing in the Development of a road outside of Big
wild. Then, the resulting seeds Bend National Park will destroy one
were collected and sent to the of the 30 remaining sites for this spe-
Garden’s greenhouse, where cies, so Rice will salvage the plants
photo by Michael Gardner
5 www.centerforplantconservation.org
network ne
New CPC publications now available 20 Years of CPC
The product of many hours of collabo-
rative work in the field and in the labora- Who are these young men?
tory, CPC’s latest book is now available.
Ex Situ Plant Conservation: Supporting
Species Survival in the Wild is the first
book to address integrated plant conser-
vation strategies and to examine the sci-
entific, technical, and the strategic bases
of the ex situ approach. It outlines the role,
value, and limits of ex situ conservation
as well as updating best management
practices for the field.
Edited by three CPC conservation of-
ficers, the book is sure to become a use-
ful guide for all who are involved in natu-
ral resource management and conserva-
tion around the country. In 1982, these two students, Frank
Order your copy today at http:// Thibodeau and Don Falk, realized
www.centerforplantconservation.org/ vation from all over the United States. that no major environmental group
Publications.html Organized by state with a improved, had considered endangerment in the
Also available from the website is user-friendly format, the directory is an plant kingdom, and they knew bo-
the newly revised Plant Conservation invaluable resource for anyone inter- tanical institutions could do some-
Directory, including over 800 entries of ested in connecting with others work- thing to change that. With the help
professionals working in plant conser- ing on plant conservation. of other key founders, these two
young men went on to found the Cen-
Profile: Ed Guerrant mination experiments. Then I try to ter for Plant Conservation. Twenty
Continued from page 5
write as much as I can; I’m currently years later, we applaud their vision.
ration has also allowed for useful in- writing a couple of articles with other
vestigations. “We’re testing seed ger- CPC folks. And of course there’s al-
mination of a bunch of different things, ways a lot of administration stuff.” Longtime CPC officer
which is all ultimately directed towards
developing germination protocols and
What inspires you? “I have a strong
desire to do something meaningful, some-
new director of Fairchild
other data for using natives for restor- thing that will be lasting, that feels good The Fairchild Tropical Garden, a
ing fire-damaged lands. By choosing deep down. I feel I’m really making the CPC participating institution in Miami,
which populations to examine, we were world a better place for humanity, and has appointed Mike Maunder to its
able to begin to address the question of that’s really what drives me. You’re helm. Mike has worked with CPC for
what is an appropriate seed source for swimming against the tide, but we’re sav- many years, first as the Director of
native plants. I always try to piggyback ing species that would otherwise go ex- Conservation at the National Tropical
as much knowledge gaining ability as tinct, and that could open up long-term Botanical Garden in Hawaii, and, since
possible on each of our projects, since positive gains for humanity. I really feel 2002, as Director of Horticulture at
there are so few resources available for that what I’m doing makes a difference Fairchild. He was a co-recipient (one
plant conservation.” and that’s what keeps me going.” of three) of CPC’s Star Award in 2002,
Describe a day in your life: What his co-workers say about him: in recognition of his dedication to plant
“There’s no typical day, which is one “One of the best things about working conservation through the work of edit-
of the wonderful things about my work. with Ed is that he appreciates the big pic- ing, along with Ed Guerrant of Berry
There are different seasons; during field ture of conservation practice while at the Botanic Garden and Kayri Havens of
seasons, when we go out and monitor, same time having the specific details to Chicago Botanic Garden, CPC’s latest
there will be a few intensive field days. work in the field. He’s been a great men- book, Ex Situ Plant Conservation: Sup-
For now, though, a typical day includes tor; I’ve really learned a lot from him.” – porting Species Survival in the Wild.
checking all the machinery and tem- Andrea Raven, Conservation Biologist at We are delighted to congratulate Mike
peratures and monitoring the seed ger- Berry Botanic Garden. on his new post!
Plant Conservation, Spring2004 6
ews & notes
Rare Care wins national award Edward K. Love
The Rare Care team at the Univer- Foundation sponsors two
sity of Washington’s Center for Ur-
ban Horticulture, a CPC participating
CPC plants
institution in Seattle, has been awarded Last year saw the generous sponsor-
the national joint US Forest Service and ship of two plants in the CPC National
Bureau of Land Management’s Conser- Collection of Endangered Plants by the
vation Project Award. This prestigious Edward K. Love Conservation Founda-
award “recognizes a project with out- tion. Annual support for the Virginia
standing conservation accomplish- sneezeweed (Helenium virginicum) and
ments for ... native plants and their the small whorled pogonia (Isotria
habitats on public lands.” medeoloides) is now secure through this
The nomination names Rare Care as generous gift of $20,000. The Edward
7 www.centerforplantconservation.org
Along the Road to Recovery
Growing the Collection
If you’ve been following our ‘Road ily as a guideline. “Usually species in
to Recovery” series, you know that the same genus germinate in the same
plant restoration takes many steps. Last way,” notes Havens. A conservation
issue, we told you about the care con- botanist can usually guess that seeds
servation botanists must take to appro- with a hard seed coat need to be scari-
priately collect and store seeds of im- fied (define) or nicked. Similarly, if few
periled plants. But even once the seeds seeds of a rare plant are available, sci- Pyne’s ground-plum (Astragalus
are safely stored, the research keeps entists will use the seeds of a more com- bibullatus) seeds are scarified (above)
going. Botanists need to learn about the mon close relative to practice. and then soaked in warm water (below)
biology of the species, the way the seed Sometimes, figuring out germination before being sown in the appropriate
germinates and the way the plant grows protocols can take lots of time and many medium at Missouri Botanical Garden.
to maturity and reproduces. Much can trials. Sometimes, a botanist may think
be learned about imperiled species in she’s got the process down to a “T”—
the lab that can be used to better under- only to find out the plant performs dif-
stand the species in the wild: their rela- ferently in the wild than in the green-
9 www.centerforplantconservation.org
Center for Plant Conservation 2003 Friends
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11 www.centerforplantconservation.org
Plant Profile: Queen of the Night
by Megan Cotter nately, the use of pesticides is
To say the odds are stacked against decreasing these moth popu-
this cactus is an understatement. Queen lations.
of the night (Peniocereus greggii var. Human actions are hurting
transmontanus), also known as desert this spectacular plant in other
night-blooming cereus, occurs as only ways as well. The cereus’
one known population in the east cen- natural habitat is being de-
tral portion of Arizona. This rare cac- stroyed by urban develop-
tus grows in the shade of another, more ment.