Ten Extremely Rare Seeds on the Brink of Extinction

The Millennium Seed Bank has set out to collect 25 percent of the world's plant species by 2020—before it is too late

  • By Megan Gambino
  • Smithsonian.com, May 14, 2012
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Three Nerved Alsinidendron (Alsinidendron trinerve)

(Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew)


Name: Three Nerved Alsinidendron (Alsinidendron trinerve)
Status: The current population of Three Nerved Alsinidendron consists of less than 50 mature shrubs on just two adjacent peaks in the Waianae Mountains of Oahu, Hawaii. The International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Red List classifies the species as critically endangered.
Threats: It is reported that numbers of the flowering plant, part of the carnation family, are dwindling as a result of grazing feral goats and pigs, human disturbance and the spread of Florida prickly blackberry, an aggressive invasive species .

Learn more about Three Nerved Alsinidendrons at the Encyclopedia of Life.

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Comments (3)

Mulanje cedar is really going. I concieve a plan to conduct a research at Chambe Basin but I don't have enough resources. Anyone who may wish to offer support should contact me. I'm currently studying forestry at Malawi College of Forestry and Wildlife. The research is part of the fulfillment for the award of the diploma. please help me.

we have some in the woods but we are not allowed to touch them

It is endemic to the Mulanje Massif of Malawi, but yet it is a pioneer species. It can be used for reforesting high elevation forests throughout southern Africa. One of the most endangered forest types in Africa are montane forest. This could be the pioneer species, that can help in assisting in reforestation techniques.



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