There are plants growing in the most distant nooks of the Earth. Most of them cannot be found in an ordinary garden as they are extremely rare and their future is really jeopardized. Endangered plants are equally important for the environment as endangered animals are, but how many of them do you know?
Here is a list of some of the most critically threatened plants which still exist, despite the continuous illegal collection and demolition of their habitat:
1.Western Underground Orchid
This rare flower grows and lives exclusively underground. It has strong aroma and blooms in the beginning of summer, in contradiction to most gardening laws. The home of the underground orchid is Western Australia – the land of the Broom bush. The orchid nourishes from the roots of the Broom bush plants and does not need chlorophyll, because it is not reached by any sunlight. The remaining number of fewer than 50 flowers is quite a proof for the threat this orchid faces.
2.Attenborough’s Pitcher Plant
Discovered in 2007, this predatory plant can be found in the island province of Palawan, the Philippines. Its home is the summit region of Mount Victoria and it is believed that there are only around a few hundred plants left. Attenborough’s pitcher plant feeds on small animals that it traps in its pitchers – bowls filled with liquid. The pitchers of the Attenborough’s plant grow up to 30 cm, so they can easily trap insects and even rats.
3.Golf Ball
This small and whitey cactus sprouts only in Mexico in the mountains of Queretaro. It resembles a golf ball and this is the reason for its name. The Golf ball cactus blooms beautiful pink flowers that are highly appreciated by horticulturists and professional gardeners, but unfortunately the blossoms are often illegally collected. The plant’s population has declined by more than 95% for the past decade.
4.Suicide Palm
The mammoth Suicide palm grows only in the remotest north-west parts of Madagascar. Its life span is about 50 years, but it blooms just once and perishes soon afterwards. The stems of these palms can grow more than 18m high, and their leaves – up to 5m across. The Suicide palms become so huge that they are even visible on Google Earth. A manager of a cashew plantation discovered these palms in 2005, but now they are not more than 90 in the world.
5.Venda Cycad
Originating from a South African province, the Venda cycad was announced as a new species in 1996. Similarly to the Golf ball cactus, this hairy-looking plant is highly endangered because people collect it illegally to sell it as a decoration. The population of the Venda cycad has dropped so seriously that specialists suggest it does not exist in the wild any more. We really hope there is a garden somewhere that has preserved at least a few cycads. Botanical gardens and professional gardening care are some plants’ last resort.
6.Jellyfish Tree
The last of our list of endangered plants is the Jellyfish tree. Once thought to be extinct, it was found again in the late 1970s. The fruits of the plant gave it that name, because they look like a jellyfish when opened. The Jellyfish tree sprouts only on the island of Mahe, the Seychelles where there are the last 86 mature individuals left in the wild, but some of them has lost the ability to reproduce.
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