Paradise Preserved

The tropics are home to more than two-thirds of the world’s known plant species, many of which are fast disappearing.

The National Tropical Botanical Garden, established in 1964 with a charter from Congress, is dedicated to trying to collect, conserve, propagate, and study a wide variety of plants before they become extinct. In its four gardens and two preserves in Hawaii and another garden in Florida can be found impressive collections of rare palm and breadfruit trees, orchids, gardenias, and a wide range of other species.

“The garden is like an ark,” says Paul Alan Cox, the garden’s director. “We maintain over 1,200 endangered species here, and our current focus is on discovering new plant medicines.”

In addition to living plants, the garden’s research facilities include more than 27,000 dried plant specimens and more than 8,000 books and periodicals.

Some of the organization’s scientists are currently cataloging plants in the Marquesas Islands, in the South Pacific, while researchers are studying plant neurotoxins as a possible cause of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (“Lou Gehrig’s disease”) on the island of Guam.

Of the National Tropical Botanical Garden’s $7-million annual budget, about one-third comes from donations, one-third from grants and contracts, and one-third from visitor revenue and earnings on its endowment.

Here, Mr. Cox examines a waterlily in the lotus pond at the Allerton Garden, a former private estate on the island of Kauai that is now part of the National Tropical Botanical Garden.