The Hawaiian Islands are home to 1,191 native vascularplant species (Wood et al., 2016), most of which are foundnowhere else on Earth.A staggering number of these are exceptionally rare. Over 230 taxa have fewer than 50individuals remaining in the wild and over 100 taxa are thought to be extinct. For thesereasons, botanists in Hawai’i are applying the International Union for Conservation ofNature (IUCN) Red List criteria to assess the extinction risk of the flora, starting with thespecies of highest conservation concern.

This effort will garner international attention for Hawaiʻi’s unique flora and invite moresupport for the conservation efforts taking place in the Islands today, including habitatprotection and securing ex situ collections of seeds at facilities in the Hawaiʻi Seed BankPartnership (HSBP). The HSBP was established in 2013, by staff from the Lyon ArboretumHawaiian Rare Plant Program, the National Tropical Botanical Garden (NTBG), OʻahuArmy Natural Resources Program, and the Hawaiʻi Island Seed Bank to standardizeprotocols, share research results, identify knowledge gaps, and improve access to seedbanking services in Hawaiʻi. Since then, the HSBP has grown to include botanists fromseveral other entities. The Millennium Seed Bank of the Royal Botanical Gardens, Kewhas been a technical associate since 2014, and a formal partnership is currently underdevelopment.

Gouania meyenii Steud. and Phyllostegia electra C.N.Forbes are examples of species thathave been added to the Red List during these recent efforts and are targets for ex situstorage by the HSBP. Both species are threatened by non-native plant taxa, feral pigs

The International Newsletter of the Millennium Seed Bank Partnership

Evaluating extinction risk ofthe Hawaiian flora using theIUCN Red ListMATTHEW J. KEIR (Network Coordinator, Laukahi: The Hawai‘i Plant Conservation Network), MARGARET J. SPORCK-KOEHLER (State Botanist, Hawai’i Department of Land and Natural Re-sources), and SEANA K. WALSH (Conservation Biologist, National Tropical Botanical Garden)

ContentsPage 1. Evaluating extinction risk of the Hawaiian flora

using the IUCN Red List.Page 3. A message from Colin Clubbe. A message from

Jonas Mueller.Page 4. The East African Plant Red List Authority.Page 5. Next steps for Plant Extinction Risk

assessments on the IUCN Red List.Page 6. Red Lists and conservation actions: the CJB

example in Geneva.Page 7. Red Listing the Trees and Aloes of the Arabian

Peninsula and the Socotra Archipelago.Page 8. The Ex Situ Seed Conservation of a Threatened

Aloe gerstneri.Page 10. GeoCAT:

Geospatial Conservation Assessment Tool.Page 10. Looking after our own.Page 11. Seed conservation and Red Listing in the UK

Overseas Territories.Page 12. Conserving San Diego’s Endemic Geophytes.Page 13. Not Your Ordinary Buttercup.Page 14. News.

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Evaluating extinction risk ofthe Hawaiian flora using theIUCN Red List

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and goats, rats, introduced slugs and snails,and stochastic events such as landslides,fire, and drought. Further research isneeded on general ecology, life history,population size, distribution, and populationgenetics of these endemic species.

The rugged cliffs of Oʻahu’s WaiʻanaeMountains are inhabited by Gouaniameyenii, a rare species of the Rhamnaceaefamily. It was known from the islands ofKauaʻi and Oʻahu, but is now extirpatedfrom Kauaʻi. Categorised as CriticallyEndangered on the IUCN Red List (Keir etal., 2016), there are a total of 15 wildindividuals in two subpopulationsremaining on Oʻahu, most of which can onlybe accessed by rappelling down the cliffs.

The species produces septicidal schizo-carps that are typically collected usingmesh bags that are left on the wild plantswhile the seeds mature. A noteworthythreat in recent years is an unknown insectpredator that damages seeds. The pro-blem has become so severe that only threehealthy seeds were secured from a wildplant in 2015. The Plant Extinction Preven-tion Program (PEPP) and Hawaiʻi’sDivision of Forestry and Wildlife have beenexploring other methods to protect theseeds during maturation. Research onoptimal seed storage conditions for G.meyenii are still being developed by theHSBP, but seeds have remained viableafter desiccation and refrigeration. Fifteenaccessions totaling around 400 seeds of G.meyenii are currently stored at NTBG onKauaʻi and the Lyon Arboretum on Oʻahu.

The wild plants are currently not protectedin a fenced area, but there has been somesuccess with a small outplanting of sixplants into a fenced area that was comple-ted in 2014 by PEPP. These individuals arethriving and have been producing healthyseed without predation and six more indi-viduals were outplanted in 2017.

In Hawaiʻi, the mint family (Lamiaceae) hasthe second highest number of speciesextinctions outside of Campanulaceae andmany subpopulations are declining at arapid rate. Phyllostegia electra, is a beauti-ful mint species endemic to mesic and wetforests on the island of Kauaʻi. It has

small, white flowers and fruits that aredark greenish-black and shiny when ripe.Phyllostegia has the fourth largest numberof endemic species of any Hawaiian flowe-ring plant genus (Ziegler, 2002). From justa single colonist, the genus radiated into35 endemic taxa (Wagner et al., 2005).

With less than 50 individuals remaining in15 subpopulations, P. electra is ranked asCritically Endangered on the IUCN Red List(Clark, 2016) and is one of NTBG’s focalspecies for reaching objectives outlined inthe Hawaiʻi Strategy for Plant Conserva-tion (HSPC) - modeled after the GlobalStrategy for Plant Conservation. The HSPCis administered by Laukahi: The Hawai‘iPlant Conservation Network.

Optimal seed storage conditions for thisspecies are unknown and, in general, sto-rage potential for Phyllostegia is poorlyunderstood. There is limited data availablefor five other Phyllostegia taxa, which werefound to be desiccation tolerant. Seedbanks in Hawaiʻi are researching existingseed banking methods, including cryopre-servation that would be optimal forHawaiian Phyllostegia. Cryopreservationcould be a promising method to increaselongevity, but is not currently available inHawaiʻi.

Like many other island floras, Hawaiʻi’snative plants are highly imperiled. Theconservation methods being developed torescue these species can be used in otherregions with similar threats. Untilrecently, Hawaiian plants have been

underrepresented on the IUCN Red List.The assessments will help to supporttheir conservation and raise globalawareness of the need for plantconservation in Hawaiʻi. A partnershipwith the Kew MSBP will provide moreexpertise in completing the researchneeded to determine optimal seedstorage methods and more support forongoing conservation efforts.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTSSusan Ching Harbin, Marian Chau, Tim Kroessig, Nellie Sugiiand Dustin Wolkis.

REFERENCESClark, M. (2015). Phyllostegia electra. The IUCN Red List ofThreatened Species 2015: e.T80232055A80232072.http://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2015-4.RLTS.T80232055A80232072.en Downloaded on 27 March 2017.

Keir, M., Kwon, J., Gon, S.M., Sugii, N., Chau, M., Brueg-mann, M., Caraway, V.L. & Sporck-Koehler, M. (2016). Gouaniameyenii. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2016:e.T80090580A80090595. http://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2016-1.RLTS.T80090580A80090595.en Downloaded on 28 March 2017.

Wagner, W.L., Herbst, D.R. & Lorence D.H. (2005). Flora ofthe Hawaiian Islands website.http://botany.si.edu/pacificislandbiodiversity/hawaiianflora/index.htm Retrieved online March 27, 2017.

Wood, K.R., Appelhans M.S. & Wagner, W.L. (2016). Melicopeoppenheimeri, section Pelea (Rutaceae), a new species fromWest Maui, Hawaiian Islands: with notes on its ecology, con-servation, and phylogenetic placement. PhytoKeys 69: 51–64.

Ziegler, A.C. (2002). Hawaiian natural history, ecology andevolution. University of Hawaii Press, Honolulu, HI.

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Message from Colin Clubbe Head of Department, Conservation Science, RBG Kew

Plants across the globe are under threat from habitat lossand fragmentation, invasive species, pollution, unsustainableuse and the increasing impacts of global climate change.Data published in the 2016 State of the World’s Plants Reportestimated that one in five plants are threatened with extinction.During this United Nations Decade on Biodiversity (2011-2020)it’s never been more important that we actively work toconserve plants. The global botanical community is respondingpositively and this issue of Samara highlights the many waysthat our Millennium Seed Bank Partners are addressing thisserious issue which has the potential to affect all humankindgiven the very many ways we rely on plants.

Accurate and robust data are vital for planning conservationactions. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species is the globalstandard for identifying those species at greatest risk ofextinction and threatened species are identified as CriticallyEndangered, Endangered or Vulnerable. The production of theRed List is made possible by the active participation of the 11Red List Partners and their respective networks. Kew has beena Red List Partner since 2010 and we signed the new Red ListPartnership Agreement at the World Conservation Congress inHawai’i in September 2016. This Agreement, which runs for 10years, will help to guide red list activity globally and by providing

robust data will help direct conservation action where it is neededmost and ultimately improve the long term outlook for plants andthe goods and services they provide for humanity. The MillenniumSeed Bank Partnership has a significant and continuing role to playin this.

A message from Jonas MuellerSenior Research Leader, Seed Conservation, RBG Kew

Last month, I read an article (Ceballos et al., 2015) that showed that we arecurrently in the sixth mass extinction (the fifth one, 65 million years ago, wipingout 50% of all plants and animals including the dinosaurs, marked the end ofthe Cretaceous and the beginning of the Tertiary geological period). Over thelast 114 years, the cautiously estimated extinction rate has been, depending onthe taxonomic group, between 8 and 100 times higher than the background rate.Whilst interesting to read, I felt this article had one major weakness – plantspecies are mentioned nowhere. And there is a simple reason for it – the globaldataset of up-to-date conservation assessments for plant species is too weakin order to include plants in those calculations. Globally, only 22,200 plant spe-cies have been assessed (about half of which are threatened), compared tocomplete assessments of, for example, all known amphibians.

The good news is, as Colin Clubbe points out above, a lot is currently happeningto address these knowledge gaps. The conservation status of more and moreplant species is being assessed, and more and more regional and national redlist assessments are published. This is a truly global effort. Conservationassessments are a great example to illustrate how research and appliedconservation actions interact; they are integral parts in many of the seedconservation projects, managed by you, the partners in the Millennium SeedBank Partnership. Indeed for many years, ‘Endangered’ species have been oneof our seed collecting priorities. Let’s find inspiration in the examples presentedin this issue of Samara. Let’s continue and expand our efforts, and be proud ofwhat we do!

REFERENCECeballos et al. (2015), Accelerated modern human–induced species losses: Entering the sixth mass extinction.Science Advances. 1(5), e1400253. DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.1400253

Samara4

The East African Plant Red List AuthorityHENK BEENTJE (Botanist -Flora Zambesiaca-, RBG Kew) and QUENTIN LUKE (Honorary. Kew Associate,National Museums of Kenya)

The East African Plant Red List Authority(EAPRLA) started in 2005, when a group ofKenyan, Tanzanian, English and Americanbotanists met in Dar es Salaam to assessspecies restricted to the coastal forestsand Eastern Arc Mountains of Kenya andTanzania. The mixtureof field botanists andtaxonomists workedwell, with colleaguesfrom Missouri Botani-cal Garden providingthe geo-referencedspecimen data as wellas the maps andOccurrence/ Occu-pancy data gatheredfrom specimens. Bythe end of the firstworkshop we had assessed 178 taxa.

Gradually the project broadened in scopeand expertise; as we started to assessspecies from the broader East Africanregion, we were joined by colleagues fromUganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Ethiopia, SouthSudan (briefly) and Congo. We have nowheld thirteen workshops (in places likeArusha, Nairobi, Kampala and Huye) andhave a core group of 15 members. Univer-sity students can also attend to get an

overview on how the Red listing processworks. We have successfully traineddozens of people from seven East Africancountries in assessing; we have alsobuilt a strong network and developedfriendships. As a result we have completed

2448 assessments – ofwhich 688 are Endan-gered, and 126 areCritically Endangered!We use the categoryLC (CD) for thoseplants that fall underleast concern (LC) butare conservationdependent (CD). Thisis not an official cate-gory, but we believe animportant one; we

hope to see it officially recognised. Thiscategory (with 219 assessments so far)covers species such as Impatiens nyungwensis,only found in Nyungwe Forest in Rwanda, awell-protected National Park. Any change inthe status of such a protected area wouldimmediately change the assessment from LCto something much worse.

While all our data have been made availa-ble to IUCN, only a small percentage of ourassessments have been published on the

official Red List. This means many of ourassessments are not available to be used inpractical conservation; there is a strong linkbetween development projects and the RedList. For large projects, particularly thoseon infrastructure that need public money togo forward, species and habitats can beconserved/protected by using InternationalFinance Corporation Performance Standard6 and the Equator Principles to highlightSpecies of Conservation Concern (SCC) andCritical Habitat. Thus either offsets or avoi-dance can be sought at the planning stage.

Funding has been a problem – the firstthree workshops were funded by the CriticalEcosystem Partnership Fund, and the lastthree by the MacArthur Foundation. OurChair was supported for several years bythe Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden inMiami. To date we have received no per-manent funding but the Mohamed binZayed Species Conservation Fund hasbeen a stalwart supporter.

Our future plans? Keep on assessing, and,if we can get the funds, do some fieldwork.Some of the data we work with are old, andneed field-checking; this goes for our 66data deficient species, but for many othertaxa as well.

As a result we have completed 2448

assessments – of which688 are Endangered, and

126 are Critically Endangered!

EAPRLA Workshop VI

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Next steps for Plant Extinction Riskassessments on the IUCN Red ListDR SERENE HARGREAVES (Plant Assessment Unit Coordinator, RBG Kew)

P lant species are significantlyunder-represented on the IUCNRed List of Threatened Species

(www.iucnredlist.org) which includesextinction risk assessments for only 6per cent of known plant species. TheIUCN's plant assessment targetsfor 2020 focus on a number ofpriority groups includingeconomically valuable plants,ebonies, carnivorous plants andaloes. Selected endemic plantsfrom many geographic regionshave also been targeted, withNew Caledonia and Mozambiquehaving the ambitious target ofcompleting extinction riskassessments for all theirendemic plant species (seeimage).

With funding from Toyota and inpartnership with IUCN, RBG Kew isplaying a key part in the drive toincrease the number of plantassessments published on the RedList by establishing a new PlantAssessment Unit. This unit is workingwith Kew’s scientists to streamline theprocess of assessing species and tocreate a step change in the number ofRed List assessments produced byKew. In the first years of this projectwe will be focussing particularly onthe island of New Guinea, and thegenera Myrcia s.l., Cola and Coffea.

Technological developments also playa role in streamlining the publicationof Red List assessments. RBG Kew hasworked with IUCN to support thedevelopment of a tool to rapidly importmultiple assessments via spreadsheets.‘SIS Connect’ is now operational andassessments are already beingtransferred to the Red List via thisroute: (http://connect.iucnredlist.org).

A second development has seen theBiodiversity Data Journal (BDJ) andIUCN members working together to

create Species Conservation Profiles.These act as a template that allows forthe easy transfer of informationbetween the IUCN system and thejournal, concurrently generating botha published Red List assessment andan open access citable journal article.

To complement the Red List of Threa-tened Species, IUCN is in the processof formulating guidelines for the

adoption of a new “Green List”. Whilethe Red List can track a species’ riskof extinction over time, this may onlybe a small step in the conservationaction required for a given species.The Green List is based on theunderstanding that conservationshould not just focus on preventingextinction, but also on driving speciesrecovery programmes to stabilise andprotect the world’s wildlife. Ratherthan documenting the losses that havealready occurred, the Green List willseek to highlight conservation successstories, hoping to incentivise actiontowards recovery and preventingfuture declines. In the past the mes-sages from the conservationcommunity have often been negative,but with the new Green List it is hopedthat these success stories can shed apositive light on conservation pro-gress, highlighting the vital workbeing done by environmental organi-sations worldwide, including theMillennium Seed Bank Partnership.

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Priority areas for IUCN Red List plant assessment activity.

The Green List is based onthe understanding thatconservation should notjust focus on preventingextinction, but also on driving species recoveryprogrammes to stabiliseand protect the world’s

wildlife.

Samara6

Red Lists and conservation actions: the CJB example in GenevaCATHERINE LAMBELET-HAUETER (Curator, Conservatoire et Jardin botaniques de la Ville de Genève)

The Conservatoire et Jardin Botaniques (CJB) is based in Geneva, Switzerland,comprising a herbarium housing approximately 6,000,000 specimens, making itone of the largest in the world, a botanic garden, and an extensive botanical library

of global significance. What is perhaps less well known is that since 2000 the institutionhas developed many nature conservation projects. The CJB signed the InternationalAgenda for Botanic Gardens in Conservation in 2007 and since then staff at the gardenshave been working on projects that focus on the objectives of the Global Strategy forPlant Conservation.

Land use change in particular is a challenge for plant conservation in Switzerland. Thesurface of the territory impacted by human pressure is constantly increasing: forexample, during the period 1985-2009, housing and infrastructure areas haveexperienced the largest increase in size, with a gain of 584 km², a relative increase of aquarter, mainly at low altitude.

Due to the concentration of economic activities in lowland areas, the flora of the CentralPlateau is more acutely threatened than the mountain flora. However, urbanization andsporting activities are also on the increase in Alpine areas popular with tourists, and asa consequence pressure on mountain flora is also increasing. In Geneva, however, the

main threat is the pace of urbanization. In order to undertake targeted plant con-servation actions and to provideSwitzerland’s threatened flora with legalprotection, a series of ‘red lists’ were pro-duced which also served to consolidatedata from multiple sources. The first RedList of the vascular flora of Switzerlandwas published in 1991 and then updated in2002 and 2016. The Swiss Red List forLichens dates from 2002 and for Bryophy-tes from 2004. In collaboration with theNature Conservancy Agency in Geneva, theCJB produced a Red List of the vascularflora in 2006, for bryophytes in 2014, andfor lichens in 2015.

The Red List of vascular plants forSwitzerland shows that 30 per cent of theflora is either endangered or is regionallyextinct. The Red List of Geneva’s vascularflora highlights that 327 species (25 percent) are endangered and 158 (13 per cent)have presumably become extinct since theend of the 19th century. Given the localclimate and the fact that the vast majorityof species produce bankable seeds,developing ex situ conservation techniquesseemed to be an appropriate response.With the help of the rockeries section of thebotanic garden, it was possible to create aseed bank and to maintain an ex situ livingcollection as a way of conservingSwitzerland’s endangered indigenous flora.

A key goal of CJB is to maintain regionalgenetic variability of plants by collectingsamples of many endangered populations.At the same time, collected seed has beenused for species reintroductions or popu-lation reinforcements, mainly in Geneva,as well as for several research projects.The seed bank is proving to be a vital toolin the task of safeguarding seeds of threa-tened plant populations that are beingclosely monitored and whose futureremains uncertain.

The only population of Inula helvetica in Geneva is the subject of special managementand reinforcements.

REFERENCESConservatoire et Jardin botaniques (CJB): http://www.ville-ge.ch/cjb/index_en.php

Red Lists in Switzerland:https://www.bafu.admin.ch/bafu/en/home/topics/biodiversity/publications-studies/publications/threatened-species-switzerland.html

CJB - Conservation activities incl. Red List of Genevahttp://www.ville-ge.ch/cjb/conservation_presentation.php

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Red Listing the Trees and Aloes of the Arabian Peninsula and the Socotra ArchipelagoDR SHAHINA A. GHAZANFAR (Honorary Research Associate, RBG Kew) & DR ALAN FORREST (Con-servation & Biodiversity Research, Centre for Middle Eastern Plants, Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh)

S ince 2000, the Environment andProtected Areas Authority (EPAA)based in the United Arab Emirates

has hosted the annual Sharjah Interna-tional Conservation Forum for ArabianBiodiversity (#SICFAB), thanks to thegenerosity of His Highness Sheikh DrSultan bin Mohamed al Qasimi, SupremeCouncil Member and Ruler of Sharjah.For many years these workshopsmostly focused on the conservation ofArabian fauna, however, at the 18thForum in February 2017, Arabian floratook centre-stage for the first time. Theforum has a number of different the-mes, one of which focuses ontaxonomy. Discussions between theorganisers and the Centre for MiddleEastern Plants (CMEP) (part of the RoyalBotanic Garden Edinburgh), resulted inconservation assessments of all Arabiantrees and aloes being the main activitywithin this taxonomy themed event.

A mix of Arabian, regional and internationalexperts on Arabian plant conservationgathered in Sharjah, includingrepresentatives from CMEP, RBG Kew andthe IUCN Red List Unit. A total of 308 taxawere considered for assessment. Aloes formpart of a global Aloe assessment, which isalready underway, coordinated by CraigHilton-Taylor, Head of the Red List Unit,IUCN, part of the Cambridge ConservationInitiative. The assessment of Arabian aloesforms a major component to this globalassessment, as all but one species presentis endemic to the region. As one of theArabian Peninsula’s rarest groups and mostthreatened habitats, trees also form asignificant and conspicuous component ofthe assessment, including the valley forestsof the Southwestern Arabian escarpment inSaudi Arabia and Yemen. Their assessmentis long overdue, and several are regionallythreatened, some critically so, despite beingrelatively widespread in Africa. The endemic

trees of the Socotra Archipelago have alsobeen re-assessed, with many beingclassified as globally threatened. As a resultof this important activity, 19 per cent of thetrees and 42 per cent of the aloes wereassessed as threatened.

Networking was an important aspect of theforum, with plant taxonomists minglingwith those involved in managing protectedareas, and allowing plenty of time for theexchange of ideas. The scarcity of plantspecies distribution data was alsohighlighted, and in an attempt to enhanceexisting resources, an identification app forArabian Trees (downloadable from:http://padme.rbge.org.uk/arabia/trees) wasalso launched during the event. Tentativeplans for workshops bringing togetheranimal, plant and habitat managementexperts bodes well for the future ofbiodiversity conservation and sustainableuse across the Arabian Peninsula.

Participants present for the Red Listing workshop.

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Samara8

The Ex Situ Seed Conservation of ThreatenedAloe gerstneriLIVHUWANI AULDREAN NKUNA (Millennium Seed Bank Partnership Manager, South Africa)

BackgroundMonitoring and assessment of plantspecies provides evidence on species thatcontinue to decline to very low populationlevels in the wild, which helps the develop-ment of conservation strategies. TheMillennium Seed Bank Partnership(MSBP) and South African National Bota-nical Gardens, managed by the SouthAfrican National Biodiversity Institute(SANBI), prioritise threatened species forex situ conservation. In this way, SANBIsignificantly contributes to the achieve-ment of South Africa’s National Strategyfor Plant Conservation (NSPC), whichdirectly contributes to the Global Strategyfor plant Conservation (GSPC).

Distribution and habitat of Aloegerstneri

Aloe gerstneri occurs in Babanango districtin the KwaZulu-Natal Province. It is knownfrom only seven localities. The knownrange of this species is severely degradedby extreme overgrazing and subsistencefarming.

According to National Land Cover (NLC) dataof 1996, 65 per cent of the species’ distribu-tion has undergone extreme degradation, butthis is quite possibly an underestimation.

Taxonomy of A. gerstneri

Botanically, A. gerstneri is a succulentmonocot endemic to South Africa in theAsphodelaceae family. It grows as a singlerounded rosette with stems that are very

short or absent. The leaves are long andrelatively broad, wide at the base withupper and lower surfaces of maturedplants without thorns. Young plants have asingle inflorescence, but mature indivi-duals may have two or three. The flowersare broadly tubular, long and brightorange.

Red Listing of A. gerstneri

South Africa has become the first megadi-verse country to fully assess the status ofits entire flora. The Threatened SpeciesProgramme (TSP), managed by SANBI, isresponsible for species assessment inSouth Africa. The Red List of South AfricanPlants Online provides up to date informa-tion on the national conservation status ofSouth Africa's indigenous plants(http://redlist.sanbi.org). In order toimprove species data for red listing, theTSP collaborates with plant specialistgroups, including Custodians of Rare andEndangered Wildflowers (CREW), SANBIbotanists, the MSBP, Provincial plant Spe-cialist Groups (PSG), and botanists fromvarious universities. The TSP uses theIUCN Red List categories and criteria toassess the extinction risk of a species.Currently, 2,800 South African plant spe-cies are listed as threatened, representing13.7 per cent of the flora.

A. gerstneri habitat

A. gerstneri among rocky outcrops.

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Due to the increase of the human population withinthe area, more villages are encroaching towardspopulations of A. gerstneri. In 2004, Erich van Wyk,Gideon Smith and Janine Victor assessed theconservation status of A. gerstneri as Vulnerable B1ab(i,ii,iii,v). The species qualifies as threatened undercriteria B because the data meets the criteria (i.e. smallgeographic range and decline, fluctuation orfragmentation) where the available data of A. gerstnerishowed an extent of occurrence less than 111 km2, thespecies was found in less than 10 locations anddemonstrated continuing decline in all of thefollowing:

Extent of occurrence•Area of occupancy•Area, extent, and/or quality of habitat•Number of mature individuals•

Although this species seems to withstand heavygrazing and historical population distributions stillpersist, overgrazing within the species localities arecausing soil erosion in large areas. This is especiallymarked along the R68 road between Nqutu andBabanango, leading to the loss of individuals andwhole populations (C.R. Scott-Shaw pers. comm.).According to Van Wyk and Smith (1996), there is anongoing decline in the number of plants.

Seed collecting of A. gerstneriIn January 2005, the MSBP South African teamcomposed of myself and a colleague, StevenNevhutalu, went into the field with the aim of findingA. gerstneri populations and collecting seeds. The teamwent during the flowering period in order to accuratelyverify the targeted species. A population of over 100individual plants was found at early stages of floweringalong the road R68 between Babanango and Nqutu. Wecollected data, photos and herbarium specimens toconfirm the identification of the species.

Many plants were found growing next to the mainroad, which made the plants vulnerable to illegalcollections and being destroyed during roadmaintenance and expansion. There was also evidenceof poorly managed grazing of goats and cattle.

The MSBP South African team returned to the samepopulation in April 2005 to make a seed collection. Toensure a good seed collection, we targeted individualswith dry, already open capsules, as this meant that theseed is at the point of dispersal. Cotton bags wereused and seeds were sent to the MSB for banking. Aportion of the seed collection was donated to theLowveld National Botanical Garden (NBG), one ofSANBI’s 10 NBGs, for their living plant collection. Todate, over 200 individual plants of A. gerstneri aregrowing in the Lowveld NBG. Data collected by thefield team is valuable in order to update the status ofA. gerstneri in the future.

Steven Nevhutalu standing next to A. gerstneri near the road from Nqutu-Babanango in KwaZulu-Natal Province.

The highly degraded land where A. gerstneri occurs in Babanango district.

Flowers and leaves of A. gerstneri.

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REFERENCESGuide to the Aloes of South Africa: Second edition, Fourth impression. Van Wyk, B. & Smith, G. (2010). Briza Publications, Pretoria, South Africa, pp. 138

SANBI Threatened Species Programme (2017) http://redlist.sanbi.org/

Aloe gerstneri Reynolds. National Assessment: Red List of South African PlantsPlants version 2017.1. Accessed on 2017/03/28. Victor, J.E., van Wyk, E. &Smith, G.F. (2004)

Samara10

GeoCAT: Geospatial Conservation Assessment ToolEVA MARTENS (MSBP Administrator), STEVEN BACHMAN (Research Leader - Species Conservation),JUSTIN MOAT (Research Leader - Spatial Analysis), TIM WILKINSON (Spatial Analyst); RBG Kew

The IUCN Red List has been a globalstandard to assess extinction riskof species for decades. Plants are

an underrepresentedgroup of the publishedIUCN Red Listedspecies – only 5 percent of known plantshave been assessedon the latest versionof the Red List. Arecent estimate of thenumber of threatenedplant species puts the figure at 21 per cent(Brummitt et al., 2015).

In an effort to increase the number ofassessments of plants, a tool has been

Looking after our ownDR TESFAYE AWAS (National Coordinator, Ethiopian Biodiversity Institute), PROF SEBSEBE DEMISSEW (Professor of Biodiversity and Systematics, Addis Ababa University) andTIM PEARCE (MSBP Africa Coordinator, RBG Kew)

The Ethiopian Biodiversity Institute(EBI) and the Botany Departmentand National Herbarium of Addis

Ababa University (AAU) recognise theirresponsibility in securing the Ethiopianendemic flora as accessible and useableseed collections. Together with RBG Kew,this year we have launched a three-yearproject entitled “Conserving the EndemicFlora of Ethiopia”.

Ten per cent of Ethiopia’sc.6000 native plant speciesare thought to be endemicto the country. This projectwill target at least 250 ofthese species with a focuson threatened woody and tree species. The“Red List of Endemic Trees and Shrubs ofEthiopia and Eritrea” (Vivero, JL., et al. 2005)lists 117 threatened endemic woody speciesin Ethiopia; none of these species are cu-rrently conserved as ex situ seed collectionsat EBI.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTSEU BON / UNEP WCMC; NERC; ViBRANT – EU FP7

REFERENCESBrummitt N. A., Bachman S. P., Griffiths-Lee J., Lutz M.,Moat J. F., Farjon A., et al. (2015). Green Plants in the Red: A Baseline Global Assessment forthe IUCN Sampled Red List Index for Plants. PLoS ONE 10(8):e0135152.https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0135152

developed that uses knowledge of plantspecimen locations. The GeospatialConservation Assessment Tool (GeoCAT),

first released in 2014, isan evidence-based toolusing primary biodiversitydata for an indication ofthe geographic range of aspecies. Following dataentry, GeoCAT automati-cally estimates bothExtent of Occurrence andArea of Occupancy for the

species and produces a report of how thesescore against IUCN criteria. The tool doesnot provide a full Red List assessment butthe data necessary to fulfil certain Red Listcategories.

The collecting programme will rely on thecollections and expertise of the NationalHerbarium of Ethiopia. A series of updatedRed Listing Assessments will be comple-ted based on new data gathered during theseed collection missions.

Material will be stored in the EBI ForestGenetic Resources Seed Bank and duplicated

to a recently construc-ted EBI-managed seedstorage facility withinthe Fiche BiodiversityGene Bank some100km from AddisAbaba. Data associatedwith the collections

will be made available to the MSBP DataWarehouse and contribute to the MSBPglobal seed conservation target of “Secu-ring 25 per cent of the world’s bankableflora in participating seed banks of theMSBP by 2020”.REFERENCESVivero, J. L., Kelbessa, E. & Demissew, S. (2005). The Red List of endemic trees & shrubs of Ethiopia and Eritrea, Fauna and Flora International, Cambridge, UK

GeoCAT is feely available over the internet(geocat.kew.org). To date GeoCAT has beenused for more than 2,000 species conser-vation assessments. Ongoing developmentof GeoCAT aims to provide further automa-tion to the Red List assessment process,facilitating more assessments. A new ver-sion is expected to be released in 2017.

GeoCATa tool has been

developed that uses knowledge of plant

specimen locations.

Ten per cent of Ethiopia’s c.6000

native plant species arethought to be endemic

to the country.

Ethiopia’s endemic giant Lobelia, L.rhyncopetala growing with another ende-mic species, Euryops pinifolius in theChoke Mountains.

Photo

: Prof

. Ib Fr

iis, U

nivers

ity of

Cope

nhag

en

Samara 11

Seed conservation and Red Listing in the UKOverseas TerritoriesTHOMAS HELLER and SARA BARRIOS (Islands Conservation Partnership Co-ordinators, RBG Kew)

The 16 UKOTs are, for their size, veryrich in endemic taxa, with at least180 plant taxa found nowhere else.

In common with islands globally, habitat loss,invasive alien species, and climate changeare increasing the threat of extinction forthese plants. Indeed, 11 species from theUKOTs are listed by IUCN as Extinct, Extinctin the Wild, or Probably Extinct, with four ofthese having been lost in the last 70 years.Many more – 50 Critically Endangered planttaxa – are known to be close to followingthem.

The number of UKOTs species that havehad their extinction risk assessed isrelatively high, with 21 per cent of the totalflora of c. 1600 species having published

assessments on the IUCN Red List ofThreatened Species, compared to about 6per cent globally. Additionally, the FalklandIslands and Cayman Islands have publishedNational Red Lists (Broughton and McAdam,2002; Burton, 2008). Such assessments area valuable tool in prioritising collectingactivities in the UKOTs, with 64 of 95 taxaassessed as globally threatened having nowbeen banked as part of the MSBP to date.

However, important gaps in our knowledgeof the status of plants in the UKOTs remain.Many of the current activities of the UKOTsteam at Kew are focussed on plant conser-vation in the British Virgin Islands, whichform part of the Puerto Rican Bank floristicprovince. They are one of the most diverseof the UKOTs, with an estimated 650 nativeplant species, only about 11 per cent ofwhich have been assessed using IUCN RedList categories and criteria. However,several of the unassessed species areendemic to the Puerto Rican Bank, and aretherefore strong candidates for detailedassessments. Suitable habitat for thesespecies across the archipelago has beentargeted for field surveys by teams fromKew and the National Parks Trust of theVirgin Islands. Data for all occurrences ofthese species have been gathered, intandem with targeting species for seedbanking.

Through this work, we are building a muchclearer picture of how these species arefaring in the wild, with significant discoveriesof previously unknown populations, alongwith recognition of important threats, withintroduced insect pests a serious and gro-wing one. For example, Agave missionum, aVulnerable species endemic to the PuertoRican Bank, has in recent years been infes-ted by the agave snout weevil (Scyphophorusacupunctatus). Recent fieldwork has revealedhow seriously BVI populations have beenimpacted, and the species is being targetedfor seed conservation.

Further to undertaking species conservationassessments, we are able to use the resul-ting data to identify areas of BVI particularlyrich in threatened species and habitats, aspart of a project to identify Tropical ImportantPlant Areas, an additional tool in prioritisingin situ and ex situ conservation efforts.

Our current activities in the British VirginIslands are supported by the Garfield Wes-ton Foundation, Darwin Plus and HSBC.

Endangered tree Maytenus cymosa, ende-mic to the Puerto Rican Bank, and a highpriority for seed conservation.

Agave missionum, Vulnerable Puerto Rican Bank endemic, killed by an infestation of agave snout weevil.

photo

: Marc

ella C

orcora

n

REFERENCESBroughton, D.A. and McAdam, J.H. (2002). A Red Data List for the Falkland Islands vascular flora. Oryx36(3): 279-287.

Burton, F.J. (2008). Threatened Plants of the CaymanIslands: The Red List. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. 105pp.

Photo

: Tho

mas H

eller

Samara12

Conserving San Diego’s Endemic GeophytesJOE DAVITT (Research Assistant/Schlum Charitable Trust Fellow, San Diego Zoo Global)

The Mediterranean climate anddiverse habitats that typify the countyof San Diego have resulted in both

the highest number of plant taxa found inany county in the United States (Rebmanand Simpson, 2006), and plants with adap-tations that make species assessmentchallenging when working to conserve itsdiversity (Lesica and Steele, 1994). As withother Mediterranean biomes, San Diegoexperiences hot dry summers and cool wetwinters. As a result the native plants haveadapted to cope with this unique climate.Geophytes (i.e. plants with perennatingstorage structures underground, such asbulbs, corms, and rhizomes) are particu-larly common in these climates(Raunkiaer, 1934). These plants retreatunderground in adverse conditions, allo-wing them to allocate resources for use

when conditions are more favorable(Reese, 1989).

Working as a part of the California PlantRescue (CaPR), a statewide initiative tocollect and store 75 percent of the rarestplant species in California by 2020, theNative Plant Seed Bank at San Diego ZooGlobal has been targeting many of theseelusive and endemic geophytes in an effortto prevent their extinction in San DiegoCounty. Population counts of geophytescan vary greatly by year, as dormancy anddeath are indistinguishable. A decreasingnumber of individuals seen over time canbe the result of genuine population declineor of continued dormancy due to unfavora-ble conditions. This has been especiallytrue during the prolonged drought in Sout-hern California, and is likely to continue

with the inherent unpredictability of futureweather due to climate change. To gain abetter understanding of the true conserva-tion status of these species, we must takea wide view, looking across many seasonsand effectively examining entire populationranges within the context of climate varia-bility.

Of the 48 seed collections that have beenmade as a part of CaPR, 20 collections arefrom ephemeral geophyte populations. In2016, we collected seed from three sepa-rate populations of Calochortus dunnii(Liliaceae) a beautiful rare mariposa lily.This geophyte is endemic to the southernSan Diego County and northernmost BajaCalifornia, Mexico. The species may alsobe particularly sensitive to the timing andquantity of rainfall. For example, one landmanager saw a population blooming forthe first time in 20 years after good winterrains in 2015. Our 2016 seed collectionexemplifies the scope of our seed bankingefforts as we were able to both collect dataon this rare blooming event and conserveunique genetic diversity from this seldom-seen population in our seed bank.

Dudleya brevifolia (Crassulaceae) is anot-her endemic geophyte known from justfive populations, found only in the coastalSan Diego County. Though the populationsare confined to a relatively small area,their reactions to microclimatic differen-ces are varied and it is difficult to predicthow many individuals will break dormancyeach spring. Furthermore, individuals wit-hin a population may have a differentialresponse to climate variability. Geneticdiversity may be hiding under our feetduring any given season, emphasizing theneed for both large scale collection effortsand effective monitoring over many yearsunder different climatic conditions. Thusfar, we have seed collections from three ofthe five known wild populations and havehad great success in germination trialsand propagation for seed bulking.

Dudleya brevifolia (Crassulaceae) on a sandstone plateau near the San Diego coast.

Calochortus dunnii (Liliaceae) blooming in Southern San Diego County.

REFERENCESLesica, P. & Steele, B.M. (1994). Prolonged dormancy in vascu-lar plants and implications for monitoring studies. Natural AreasJournal 14.3: 209-212.

Raunkiaer, C. (1934). The life-form of plants and statisticalplant geography. Clarendon Press, Oxford.

Rebman, J.P. & Simpson, M.G. (2006). Checklist of thevascular plants of San Diego County. San Diego, CA: SanDiego Natural History Museum.

Rees, A. R. (1989). Evolution of the geophytic habit and itsphysiological advantages. Herbertia. 45: 104-110.

photo

:J. Da

vitt

photo

:J. Da

vitt

Samara 13

Not Your Ordinary Buttercup CHRIS COCKEL (Crop Wild Relatives Project Coordinator, RBG Kew)

Unlike the plant that most people in the UK call a ‘Buttercup’,Ranunculus ophioglossifolius (Adder’s-tongue spearwort) is cer-tainly no ordinary buttercup. Unlike its more common cousins,such as Creeping Buttercup (Ranunculus repens) and MeadowButtercup (Ranunclus acris), R. ophioglossifolius in the UK couldbe regarded as particularly fussy in terms of its preferred habi-tat, and extremely vulnerable due to the fragility of that habitat.

While relatively abundant throughout much of its range in main-land Europe, in the UK, this annual species is now limited to justtwo sites in Gloucestershire, at Badgeworth and InglestoneCommon. While the small population managed by the Glouces-tershire Wildlife Trust at Badgeworth has remained relativelystable in recent years, the Inglestone population was on theedge of extinction in part due to a reduction in traditional cattlegrazing that helped to open up areas of bare mud ideal for seedgermination, reduce the abundance of competitor plants, suchas Glyceria and Agrostis, and the encroachment of woodlandscrub.

By 1993 only one plant was recorded growing on the edge of its pondhabitat at Inglestone Common, with only occasional sitings madeover the next twenty years. While the species has been known topersist in the soil seed bank, the chances of R. ophioglossifoliusbeing seen again at Inglestone appeared to be receding.

So, in 2012 the Freshwater Habitats Trust and the Gloucesters-hire Wildlife Trust decided that action was needed if the specieswas not to be at risk of extinction in the UK. They approachedthe Millennium Seed Bank to see if we could help. Thankfully, aseed collection had been made by Plantlife in 2007 and donatedto the Millennium Seed Bank in order to avert such an extinc-tion.

In March 2015 145 seeds from the original 2007 collection weresown by the nursery team at Kew’s Wakehurst Place under theumbrella of the UK Native Seed Hub Project. To our surprise, theplants grew so well under glasshouse conditions and producedso many seeds (124,926 to be precise), that tiny seedlings star-ted to appear from the gravel around the seed trays, clearlydemonstrating the weedy characteristic that some species ofRanunculus are renowned for. A second generation of plants was

grown to bulk up the number of plants. These were brought onat Wakehurst until late in 2015 when the first batch of 250 plantswas moved to the nursery at Bristol Zoo Gardens in preparationfor planting out in spring 2016.

Meanwhile, in autumn 2015, South Gloucestershire Councilcommissed the clearance of woody scrub from tracks at Ingles-tone traditionally used by grazing cattle. This enabled theanimals to play their part in churning up muddy pools and crea-ting the ideal germination conditions for R. ophioglossifolius.

Finally, in May 2016 representatives from the above mentionedorganisations and others involved in the project from NaturalEngland and South Gloucestershire Biodiversity Action Group,met at Inglestone to plant out the first 83 clumps of plants in andaround some of the ephemeral pools dotting the common. Thiswas done while the plants were in flower to kick-start the pro-cess of replenishing the depleted soil seed bank. Monitoring ofthe site over subesequent months revealed new seedlings ger-minating in October 2016, and by March this year as many as 200young plants were recorded at Inglestone, thus demonstratingthe success of the project so far.

Planting at Inglestone Common 24th May 2016.

Ranunculus ophioglossifolius in the Wakehurst nursery 27th May2015.

Photo

: C. C

ocke

l.

Wetlands at Inglestone Common 25th November 2015.

Photo

: C. C

ocke

l.

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: C. C

ocke

l.

Samara14

Visiting the Oman Botanic GardenAISYAH FARUK (Country Programme Officer [Caucasus], RBG Kew), DARACH LUPTON (Senior Researcher/Bo-tanist, Oman Botanic Garden) and ANNETTE PATZELT (Director, Oman Botanic Garden)

In February 2017, Aisyah Faruk took abreak from her Caucasus adventuresto visit the Oman Botanic Garden

(OBG), situated on the outskirts of thecapital Muscat in the north of the country.The aim of the trip was to seek a part-nership with OBG and to discussstrategies for the ex situ conservation ofOman’s flora. Oman is essentially the place where

Africa meets Asia in terms of plant diver-sity. Towards the north, the floraresembles that found in Iran, Pakistanand Egypt, while in the south, the floramore closely resembles that found distri-buted across the Horn of Africa (e.g.Somalia and Ethiopia). Unfortunately, thisamazing flora is under threat from rapidurban development, as well as a chan-ging climate and over grazing.

OBG is the country’s first major botanicgarden and is increasingly expanding itsactivities towards studying the ecologyand importance of its native flora. Duringher trip, Aisyah met with most of the OBGteam, introducing them to the MillenniumSeed Bank Partnership, as well asdiscussing the fundamentals of long-term ex situ conservation in the country.It is hoped that OBG will soon join theMSB partnership and ultimately establisha conservation programme for Oman’sthreatened flora.

Mountain Oasis in North Oman.

Aisyah Faruk meeting with Darach Lupton.

Promoting the conservation and sustainable use of treeseeds in the Caribbean regionEFISIO MATTANA, KEITH MANGER, DANIEL BALLESTEROS, THOMAS HELLER and TIZIANA ULIAN (RBG, Kew)

During our last visit to theDominican Republic a group ofKew scientists attended the IX

Congress on Caribbean Biodiversity heldfrom January 31st to February 3rd 2017 inSanto Domingo. As part of the congress weorganised a very productive symposium,entitled Seed Conservation andSustainable Use of Native Trees inMesoamerica and the Caribbean, underthe auspices of the Global Tree Seed BankProject, and in collaboration with theJardín Botánico Nacional Dr. Rafael Ma.Moscoso (JBN), the Universidad Nationalde Santo Domingo, and the University ofPuerto Rico. The key objective was to shareproject experiences and research resultswith institutions working in the Caribbeanand Mesoamerican region, including Kew’spartners from Puerto Rico and the Turksand Caicos Islands.

The symposium was followed by the inau-guration of the JBN’s new seed bank. Thisnew facility is the result of Kew’s long term

RELATED LINKShttp://www.jbn.gob.do/http://www.congresobdc.org/

Photo

: D. L

upton

.

collaboration with theJBN which started in 2007under Kew’s MillenniumSeed Bank partnership,and which is now flouris-hing through the GlobalTree Seed Bank Project:Saving threatened forestsof Hispaniola. The project,funded by the GarfieldWeston Foundation, hasthe purpose of preservingseeds of native trees, andencouraging research intothe conservation of biodi-versity and promotingsupport for reforestationactivities in the region.

These events represented an excellent opportunity for Kew to promote its work and part-nerships in the Dominican Republic and the wider Caribbean.

Tiziana Ulian speaking at the inaugural ceremony of thenew JBN seed bank.

Photo

: E. M

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a, RB

G, Ke

w

NEWSPh

oto: R

BG Ke

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Samara 15

State of the World’s Plants 2017DR JAMES WEARN (Project Manager, RBG Kew)

On 18 May this year RBG Kewlaunched the State of theWorld’s Plants 2017 report (see

https://stateoftheworldsplants.com). Thereport highlighted emerging trends whilstbuilding upon the important baselineinformation presented last year.

The report summarises new discoveriesfrom 2016, which include those of horticul-tural interest, plants of economicimportance, and country-based novelties. Itprovides an assessment of global threats toplants and identifies those plants that havetraits which enable them to be more resilientto global climate change and those that aremore prone to extinction. Advances in wholegenome sequencing and the knowledge thatthis is providing for pure and applied bota-nical research are highlighted. The impactof burning on global land-cover change isconsidered, as are plant communities thatare naturally adapted to wildfires andannual burning regimes. Finally, the reportaddresses the effectiveness of internationalpolicy frameworks for promoting sustainableuse and conservation. The Madagascar

regional focus provides a case study on howwe might reduce threats to plant diversity.

The symposium engaged an internationalcommunity including scientists and policymakers. The event was enriched by a stronglineup of speakers comprising 12 men and

12 women from 12 countries. Themed ses-sions addressed thought-provoking issuesincluding ‘The immediate risk of extinction:climate change won’t matter if everythinghas already died out’, ‘Invasive plants: bornto invade?’ and ‘Valuing nature: which plantspecies are most valuable?’.

Fire burns through a coniferous forest.

Photo

: imag

e in P

ublic

Doma

in via

Pixa

bay.

Growing Nuphar pumila at Wakehurst PlaceJOANNA WALMISLEY (Botanical Horticulturist Propagator, Wakehurst Place)

Nuphar pumila, or more commonly known as the Least Water-lily, is a scarce native UK species. Though occurring morefrequently in Scotland, it is thought that high nutrient levels

and too much shade threaten the habitat at its only remainingEnglish site in Shropshire. Seeds and rhizomes were collected fromthis population in July 2016 by a team from the Millennium SeedBank (MSB). The plant grows in sheltered bays of lakes and water-bodies that have low to medium nutrient levels, either alone or withthe more widespread N. lutea with which it can hybridise.

Little is known about the cultivation of N. pumila. Therefore, as partof the Species Recovery Plan, Natural England commissioned andfunded the MSB’s UK team to conduct a post-harvest viability studyof wild collected seeds and determine the conditions needed to ger-minate N. pumila. Tissue samples from various populations werealso tested by Kew’s Conservation Genetics team to investigatelevels of hybridisation with N. lutea, and the extent to which theEnglish plants are genetically distinct from Scottish populations.

To continue this research, work is underway in the nursery at Wake-hurst, to grow on both the seedlingsand rhizomes. The larger rhizomeshave come through the winter of2016/17 and are now being propagatedby division. A new aquarium housesgerminated seedlings, which were atfirst reluctant to grow. By reducing lightlevels, further seedlings are nowunderway. If these continue to maturity,knowledge of the cultivation require-ments of N. pumila may be used infuture conservation actions, helping tosecure its future in an uncertain world. Nuphar pumila seedlings growing in a tank at Wakehurst Place nursery.

Photo

: RBG

Kew

New MSB Agreements

Country Counterpart Name Start Date Duration(Years)

China Guangxi Institute of Botany December 2016 5United Kingdom Overseas Territories The Government of Montserrat April 2Ethiopia Ethiopian Biodiversity Institute February 4Indonesia Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI) December 2016 5United Kingdom True Harvest Seeds April 2

Key science publications

Christenhusz, M.J.M., Clubbe, C., Hilgenhof, R. & Fay, M.F. (2016). 852. Kewa acida: Kewaceae plant in peril 39. Curtis’sBotanical Magazine 33 (4): 327–337. DOI: 10.1111/curt.12167.

Clause, J., Forey, E., Eisenhauer, N., Seal, C.E., Soudey, A., Colville, L. & Barot, S. (2016). Seed selection by earthworms:chemical seed properties matter more than morphological traits. Plant and Soil. DOI: 10.1007/s11104-016-3085-9.

Fay, M.F. (2017). IUCN SSC Orchid Specialist Group. In: 2015 Annual Report of the Species Survival Commission and theGlobal Species Programme.

Mattana, E., Sacande, M., Abdul Sanogo, K., Lira, R., Gomez-Barreiro, P., Rogledi, M. & Ulian, T. (2017). Thermal requirementsfor seed germination of underutilized Lippia species. South African Journal of Botany. DOI: 10.1016/j.sajb.2016.12.020.

Moat, J. & Bachman, S. (2017). rCAT: Conservation Assessment Tools. R package version 0.1.5.

Müller, J.V., Berg, C., Détraz-Méroz, J., Erschbamer, B., Fort, N., Lambelet-Haueter, C., Margreiter, V., Mombrial, F., Mondoni,A., Pagitz, K., Porro, F., Rossi, G., Schwager, P. & Breman, E. (2017). The Alpine Seed Conservation and Research Network– a new initiative to conserve valuable plant species in the European Alps. Journal of Mountain Science 14 (4): 806–810.DOI: 10.1007/s11629-016-4313-8.

Orsenigo, S., Guzzon, F., Abeli, T., Rossi, G., Vagge, I., Balestrazzi, A., Mondoni, A. & Müller, J.V. (2017). Comparative germi-nation responses to water potential across different populations of Aegilops geniculata and cultivar varieties of Triticumdurum and Triticum aestivum. Plant Biology 19: 165–171. DOI: 10.1111/plb.12528.

Schmidt, M., Zizka, A., Traoré, S., Ataholo, M., Chatelain, C., Daget, P., Dressler, S., Hahn, K., Kirchmair, I., Krohmer, J.,Mbayngone, E., Müller, J.V., Nacoulma, B., Ouédraogo, O., Sambaré, O., Schumann, K., Wieringa, J., Zizka, G. & Thiombiano,A. (2017). Diversity, distribution and preliminary conservation status of the flora of Burkina Faso. Phytotaxa 304 (1): 1–215. DOI: 10.11646/phytotaxa.304.1.1.

MSB Partnership Data Warehouse

The MSBP Data Warehouse (http://brahmsonline.kew.org/msbp) was established to give MSBP partners access to all dataassociated with their seed collections. The Data Warehouse can be used to plan target lists, identify seed collections avai-lable for research, look up X-ray and germination test conditions and results, and map collections via a Google mapsinterface. You can also download a complete, unique MSBP species base list to check for species not previously banked.Access is available to all MSB partnership organisations, you can register on the Data Warehouse website athttp://brahmsonline.kew.org/msbp/Account/Register.

Please contact Naomi Carvey (N.Carvey@kew.org), the Data Warehouse Project Officer, to discuss data available, data trai-ning and with any questions or feedback.

Email: msbp.datawarehouse.access@kew.org

MSB dashboard

Date 27/04/17

Total Collections 82,896

Total Species 37,770

Total countries (including overseas territories) 189

Next issue

Issue 32 of Samara will be reporting on the work carried outacross the MSBP on island flora. If you are an MSB Partnerof an island nation working on your local flora, or you arean MSB Partner researching and/or conducting fieldwork onislands, and you would like to share it with the wider MSBPcommunity and beyond, please contact our editorial team,we would love to hear from you.

TALES FROM THE FIELDFieldwork is an important part of the work that we alldo. We’d love to hear about your fun, interesting andexciting field trips. Send your contributions to our edi-torial team!

Contact usWe want to hear from you!Samara is your newsletter so please send us any articlesyou feel would be of interest to the MSBP.

The Millennium Seed Bank Partnership is managed byRoyal Botanic Gardens, Kew.

Samara EditorsEva Martens, Aisyah Faruk and Laura JenningsRoyal Botanic Gardens, KewMillennium Seed Bank, Wakehurst Place, Ardingly, WestSussex, RH17 6TN, UKTel +44 1444 894177Email samara@kew.org

Samara provides information and inspiration for MSBPpartners and a flavour of the successes of the Partners-hip. It is available as a PDF from the MSBP website atwww.kew.org/samara.

We only hold your contact details for the purposes ofmaintaining our distribution list. This only for use byRoyal Botanic Gardens, Kew. You can ask us to removeyour details from our database at any time.