Planting the Seeds of an Excellent Idea

To the Editor:

Endowing species is a wonderful concept in helping preserve and protect the biodiversity of this planet (“Endowing a Species: a New Frontier for Donors,” My View, May 6).

As authors John Davis and David Rothenberg mentioned, the idea is not without precedent. In fact, donors have been “sponsoring” imperiled U.S. plants in the Center for Plant Conservation National Collection of Endangered Plants since 1984.

The center’s National Collection of Endangered Plants now stands at 562 species, making it one of the largest living collections of rare plants in the world. These plants are maintained through a program of off-site conservation within a consortium of 29 leading U.S. botanical gardens and arboreta. A national office, based at the Missouri Botanical Garden, in St. Louis, coordinates this program.

Genetically diverse, live plant material is collected from nature and carefully maintained within the Center for Plant Conservation’s garden network in the form of seeds, cuttings, or mature plants. This material is multiplied as needed and closely monitored until it can be restored to natural habitats. These efforts are undertaken as complements to the preservation of the U.S. flora through habitat protection, management, and restoration.

The center’s plant collection is maintained through the generous support of individuals and organizations that sponsor single plant species. Sponsorships occur through restricted donations to the Center for Plant Conservation that specify the plant the donor wishes to “adopt.”

Such donations are deposited in the center’s plant-endowment fund, which is managed by the center’s Board of Trustees. A portion of the income derived from the fund is transferred each year to the center’s gardens that maintain the sponsored plants, thus supporting conservation efforts for those plants in perpetuity. Currently, 167 of the 562 plants in the national collection are sponsored, with the current donation amount necessary to sponsor a plant set at $10,000.

As the authors point out, it is imperative that we as conservationists continue to look for creative ways to protect and preserve biodiversity. The Center for Plant Conservation estimates that 2,000 U.S. plant species are at risk of extinction — approximately one-tenth of the entire U.S. flora. When just one rare plant disappears, the evolutionary end product of hundreds of thousands — or millions — of years is gone forever. We must continue to cultivate and identify donors who can work with us, species by species, habitat by habitat, to preserve our natural systems and the species they contain for the greater good of us all.

Brien A. Meilleur
President
Center for Plant Conservation
Missouri Botanical Garden
St. Louis