Discover the Beauty and Mystery of Imperiled, Native Plants:New web site provides photos and profiles of more than 600 rare plants

February 18, 2003 (St. Louis, MO) – The Center for Plant Conservation has launched a new Web site that provides comprehensive information about the country’s native, imperiled plants.

The plant profiles, available at http://www.centerforplantconservation.org, include photos of plants in the National Collection of Endangered Plants. Each profile contains a description of the plant, its distribution and conservation status. A complete bibliography follows each plant profile, and the pages contain more than 5,000 references.

“We are delighted to maintain such a vast educational resource on our Web site,” said Kathryn L. Kennedy, Ph.D., president and executive director of the Center. “The Web site gives people throughout the world the opportunity to learn about the imperiled plant resources in the United States.”

Each plant profiled is included in the Center’s National Collection of Endangered Plants. The Collection, one of the largest of its kind in the world, contains plant material for more than 600 of the country’s most imperiled native plants. An important conservation resource, the Collection is a back-up in case a species becomes extinct or no longer reproduces in the wild. Its also an important resource for the scientific study of plant rarity, rare plant life cycles and rare plant storage and germination requirements. The Center offers donors the opportunity to make a personal investment in plant conservation by sponsoring a plant in the National Collection.

Chicago Botanic Garden, partnering with the University of Illinois – Chicago, coordinated the project. The Center’s participating institutions, located across the country, supplied content and photographs for the profiles. Funding for this project came from the Institute of Museum and Library Services.

The Center for Plant Conservation is dedicated solely to preventing the extinction of
America’s imperiled, native flora. The center is a network of more than 30 of America’s leading botanical institutions. By conducting conservation programs in horticulture, research, awareness and information exchange, the center’s network is striving to save America’s rarest plants from being lost forever. For more information about the Center for Plant Conservation, please visit the Web site at http://www.centerforplantconservation.org .

Jessica Little
Communications Coordinator
Center for Plant Conservation
(314) 577-9541
jessica.little@mobot.org