Safeguarding Mexico’s flora

Golden barrel cacti

Golden barrel cacti (Echinocactus grusonii) come from the drylands of Mexico, a country that is home to more than one in ten of the world’s vascular plant species. This category covers all plants except for mosses and liverworts.

Golden barrel cactus in flower

In 1990 the primary habitat of the golden barrel cactus – a semi-arid valley in the Río Moctezuma basin – was threatened by the construction of the Zimapán hydroelectric dam.

Zimapán reservoir

The Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM) mounted an intensive rescue operation to collect these and other rare plants before they were submerged in this lake.

Fieldwork in the Mexican drylands

UNAM now works with staff from Kew’s Millennium Seed Bank (MSB) to collect seeds from endangered, useful or endemic species across the Mexican drylands. Endemic plants are unique to a specific location or habitat.

Kew’s Millennium Seed Bank

If plants are threatened with extinction in the future, their seeds will be available at UNAM and the MSB at Wakehurst Place. By maintaining the MSB’s 1.6 billion seeds at -20º C they are expected to survive for 200 years.

Golden barrel cacti in cultivation

Although habitat loss has caused golden barrel cacti to become critically endangered in the wild, conservation work in botanic gardens has enabled them to become popular in cultivation. A new wild population has also been discovered.