Conservation and climate change news
Plants have an essential role to play in mitigating the effects of climate change, because they take carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere. Conversely, if forests are destroyed by burning, then carbon dioxide is added to the atmosphere. Deforestation accounts for about one fifth of the world’s carbon emissions.
However, plants are threatened by environmental changes including climate change. Conserving plants is therefore critical to any sustainable solution to environmental change.
Kew's work in this area | Adopt a seed for £25 and help Kew protect plant life
Plant story - last wild population of Cylindrophyllum hallii saved from extinction
01 Jan 2010
A wild population of a long-lost species was discovered during a routine seed collecting trip in South Africa. This plant species had not been documented or collected since 1960.
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Plant story - Bulbine crassa is saved at Kew's Millennium Seed Bank
01 Jan 2010
In January 2007, a seed collection of great significance was made, as part of the joint Tasmanian Millennium Seed Bank Partnership initiative.
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Plant story - Canthium vanwykii collected by the Millennium Seed Bank Partnership
01 Jan 2010
This species is endemic to small area of South Africa.
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Plant story - Oxytenanthera abyssinica was the billionth seed collected by Kew's Millennium Seed Bank
01 Jan 2010
The billionth seed was presented to Gordon Brown, on 26 April 2007, when he was Chancellor of the Exchequer.
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Plant story - conserving willowmore cedar
01 Jan 2010
Find out how the Millennium Seed Bank Partnership saved willowmore cedar (Widdringtonia schwarzii), an ancient giant plant which occurs in the Baviaanskloof and Kouga Mountains in the Eastern Cape Province, South Africa.
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Plant story - Mimetes hirtus, vulnerable species bagged by Kew's Millennium Seed Bank Partnership in South Africa
01 Jan 2010
Also known as the Marsh pagoda or Vleistompie, this species is difficult to collect.
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Plant story - Gladiolus aureus is on the verge of extinction
01 Jan 2010
A once wide spread plant species, this geophyte, known only to be found in the Cape Peninsula of South Africa is on the verge of extinction in the wild.
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Plant story - safeguarding yellow eyebright, a highly threatened plant species
01 Jan 2010
Yellow Eyebright is a highly threatened annual herb from southern Australia. Find out how Kew's Millennium Seed Bank is helping to protect this plant for our future.
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Plant story - saving Hoodia currorii, an important "slimming" plant
01 Jan 2010
Hoodia currorii contains compounds used in slimming pills and is now under threat due to over-collecting.
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Plant story - the endangered starfruit is restored back to native habitat in the UK
01 Jan 2010
Wakehurst horticultural staff working with Plantlife, Natural England and local authorities have reintroduced starfruit (Damasonium alisma) to pond margins on Greenham Common.
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