News Published: 25 March 2025

The article discusses the growing role of botanical gardens and “metacollections” in preserving threatened plant species, especially as climate change, land development, and other threats increasingly endanger their natural habitats.

The Wollemi pine, a tree long thought extinct, serves as a central example. Discovered in Australia in 1994, it was Critically Endangered, prompting conservation efforts including both in situ and ex situ methods to safeguard its survival. Following devastating wildfires in 2019–2020, these efforts expanded into a global network of botanic gardens designed to store genetically diverse plant collections, ensuring species like the Wollemi pine can survive even if their natural habitats vanish.

Some plant, like Franklinia alatamaha, is already extinct in the wild but continue to exist in cultivation. Conservationists emphasize the urgency of preserving plant species in ex situ metacollections, as a significant portion of the world’s flora is at risk of extinction.