{"id":44460,"date":"2024-12-06T18:59:21","date_gmt":"2024-12-06T17:59:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ef4a0a3e-2343-4a50-a036-5086b156ff51"},"modified":"2024-12-08T10:27:23","modified_gmt":"2024-12-08T09:27:23","slug":"5-of-the-loneliest-plants-in-the-world-plus-the-race-to-help-them-reproduce","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/rss_feed\/5-of-the-loneliest-plants-in-the-world-plus-the-race-to-help-them-reproduce\/","title":{"rendered":"5 of the loneliest plants in the world, plus the race to help them reproduce"},"content":{"rendered":"

With sometimes as little as just one remaining specimen, these critically endangered plants will disappear from our planet forever without the help of talented horticulturalists <\/p>

By Charlie Lyon\n <\/p>

Published: Friday, 06 December 2024 at 17:59 PM<\/p>

\n\n

Researchers and horticulturalists are looking for ways to help these lonely, rare plants to reproduce and save the species. Drones, AI and test-tube germination all come into play. Will we ever see them flourish?<\/strong><\/p>

Where and when to see orchids in Britain<\/strong><\/a><\/li>
Weirdest plants in the world<\/strong><\/a><\/li> <\/ul>
5 of the loneliest plants in the world<\/h2>
Wood\u2019s cycad (Encephalartos woodii<\/em>)<\/h3>
Only one male specimen of wood’s cycad (pictured above) has ever been found in the wild, and that was in 1895 in South Africa. The male plant has been cloned, but it is dioecious and needs a female plant to naturally pollinate and reproduce.<\/p>
A team of researchers is on a mission to find one, using drones and AI<\/a>.<\/p>
A research project, led by the University of Southampton, is scouring thousands of acres of forest in South Africa. Drone imaging is then analysed by AI.<\/p>

Scientists are using AI to save rare African forest elephants in the Congo Basin. Here’s how<\/a><\/strong><\/li> <\/ul>
Pygmy Rwandan waterlily (Nymphaea thermarum<\/em>)<\/h3>
Getty Images <\/figcaption> <\/figure>
The smallest waterlily in the wild, with pads as small as 1cm in diameter, was thought to be extinct in 2008.<\/p>
Kew Garden horticulturists set to work propagating one of the last few salvaged plants, but had trouble germinating the seeds. Meanwhile, the parent plant was eaten by a rat.<\/p>
Thankfully, increasing the seeds’ access to C02 by germinating them in very shallow water proved successful. Since then, previously unknown wild populations have been recorded in Rwanda in 2023 and 2024.<\/p>

Record breakers of the natural world<\/a><\/strong><\/li> <\/ul>
The Loneliest Palm (Hyophorbe amaricaulis<\/em>)<\/h3> $\"\"$
Coolth, CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons <\/figcaption> <\/figure>
The palm tree Hyophorbe amaricaulis<\/em> is a tragic case. Endemic to Mauritius<\/a>, it was thought extinct until 1942, when a plant turned up in a botanic garden.<\/p>
Efforts to fertilise it by hand have so far been unsuccessful. There has been successful germination, but the young green seedlings grew for about three months and later died.<\/p>
Ghost orchid (Epipogium aphyllum<\/em>)<\/h3> $\"Ghost$
Richard Bate <\/figcaption> <\/figure>
In September 2024, the second sighting since the 1980s in Britain of the ghost orchid<\/a> was recorded. It had actually been declared extinct in 2009 by experts, before being spotted just a few weeks later.<\/p>
It is an unusual plant in that it grows no leaves nor produces chlorophyll. Instead, it sources its nutrients from underground fungi<\/a>.<\/p>
The site was kept secret to protect the rare plant and the habitat.<\/p>
Three Kings kaik\u014dmako (Pennantia baylisiana<\/em>)<\/h3> $\"\"$
Getty Images <\/figcaption> <\/figure>
This species, endemic to New Zealand’s Three Kings Islands had been reduced to a single individual, when it discovered in 1945. Happily, after seven decades of failings, the Three Kings kaik\u014dmako has been revived through cuttings.<\/p>

100 new ocean species discovered off the coast of New Zealand<\/a><\/strong><\/li> <\/ul>
Main image: Getty Images<\/p> <\/body><\/html>\n
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5 of the loneliest plants in the world<\/h2>

The Loneliest Palm (Hyophorbe amaricaulis<\/em>)<\/h3>

Ghost orchid (Epipogium aphyllum<\/em>)<\/h3>

Three Kings kaik\u014dmako (Pennantia baylisiana<\/em>)<\/h3>