Posts tagged “Environment”
What We Killed Thursday
This week, I’ve got two more cycads that are extinct in the wild. When Encephalartos relictus and Encephalartos woodii were discovered by western botanists, only one of each remained. E. relictus was discovered in 1971 by J. J. P. du Preez on the eastern border of Swaziland near Mozambique. There was only one plant. du […]
What We Killed Thursday
It’s been quite a few weeks since I’ve featured an extinct plant, but the series isn’t dead yet! While I really enjoy researching and sharing what I find about extinct species, it does take more time than I had at the end of the semester. Many of the plants I feature are extinct in the […]
What We Killed This Thursday
Encephalartos brevifoliolatus Originally uploaded by Haarnaald Encephalartos brevifoliolatus is a cycad species first described in 1996. By 2004, the 2 known female plants were gone and the population consisted of just 2 males. While scientists and conservationists were making arrangements to save these two plants, one was stolen and the other chopped to pieces. They […]
What We Killed Thursday
Ascension Island is a teeny tiny island in the middle of nowhere. However, you’ve almost certainly heard of it (or at least seen it on a nature show) since it’s one of the most important breeding grounds for seabirds in the tropical Atlantic. It’s a relatively young island and so it is in a very […]
Tout Disparaître
Welcome to another edition of What We Killed This Thursday. Dracaena umbraculifera, Umbrella dracaena, was found on Mauritius in 1797. It was propagated and grown by plant collectors and is found in several botanic gardens, but has not been seen in the wild since the original description. Mauritius is a fairly remote island with relatively […]
Thunresdæg Ragnarök
I haven’t updated my series on the plants we’ve lost for a few weeks, but I’m back! Cryosophila williamsii, also known as the Root-Spine Palm or the Lago Yojoa Palm, is a Honduran palm considered extinct in the wild. Like Corypha taliera, the Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden’s Center for Tropical Plan Conservation cares for the […]
Oops! We did it again…
In 1979 villagers from Shantiniketan in West Bengal cut down a palm about to flower because they feared it could be a “ghost palmyra tree.” This was the last Corypha taliera alive in the wild. Years later, a cultivated specimen from an Indian botanic garden flowered and the seeds were collected. Some of the seedlings […]