Plant story

Dendroseris litoralis

In October 2004, one the world’s most endangered plants flowered for the first time outside its natural habitat, thanks to botanists at the Millennium Seed Bank Project, who have saved it from extinction.

The Cabbage Tree produced a crop of bright yellow flowers – four years after the seeds were planted.

“To have got this critically endangered plant to flower is very important”, according to Roger Smith who was head of the project in 2004. “It allows us to identify the species precisely because, without the flower, we could not be positive which of the rare Dendroseris we had got – they are all in danger, this one the most.”

Ten of the tall, palm-like trees with their cabbage-looking top were grown successfully.

Only a handful of the Dendroseris litoralis Skottsberg survive on Robinson Crusoe Island which is the only place they exist in the wild.

The plant once provided nourishment to keep Alexander Selkirk alive, the inspiration for Robinson Crusoe, while he was on the island of Juan Fernandez.

Their successful propagation and flowering marks a key step towards the plant’s long-term survival.

Dendroseris litoralis is the rarest of 12 species in the genus and, until recently, only three cabbage trees survived on Robinson Crusoe island because of the destruction by animals including goats and rabbits.