The disappearance of many species of flora often depends on the person and his destructive, as it turns out, activity. Humanity will never see thousands of rare plants. The Red Book is a list of plants and animals, either extinct or on the verge of this. But even despite the existing records, it is impossible to know exactly how many copies of certain plants remain in the world.
Extinct species
Extinct plant species gain this status and their place on the black list after the last instance officially documented disappears. Many extinct species are known only for their "remains" - prints on stones, evidence in official documents.
One of the oldest extinct plants is archefructus. His remains were discovered in 1998 in the Lower Cretaceous sediments in China.
A whole genus of these plants has died out, but water lilies are considered their likely descendant or closest relative. Archefructus also grew in ponds, but was not fully formed (for example, there were no petals). Scientists consider this ancient plant to be the progenitor of all flowering plants in modern history.
Extinct plant species usually belong to the early epochs of the development of nature. Worth mentioning is Archeopteris, an ancient fern that grew even in the Paleozoic era. It is considered the oldest tree. Also interesting in its structure is the tree-like plant lepidodendron, which existed in the Carboniferous period. Its leaves grew directly from the trunk, without petioles, so after the leaf fall the trunk remained excised with scars, which made the bark similar to crocodile skin.
Unfortunately, ancient extinct plants are not alone in their fate. Even in the 20th century, it became possible for the flora to disappear from the face of the Earth. For example, the Kriya violet, which grew on limestone soils in southeastern France, was irretrievably lost. The sudden destruction of limestones led to her death.
According to 2011 data, 799 species (including fauna) have completely disappeared, 61 species have ceased to exist in the wild and a huge amount is on the verge of extinction. Unfortunately, these figures are only growing every year.
Extinct in the wild
EW - this status is given to plants that have survived only in captivity. Usually they grow in botanical gardens or reserves, where their population is carefully monitored.
For example, Wood's encephalanthros, growing on the forest slopes of South Africa, was removed from the wild and placed in botanical gardens in different parts of the world. Due to adverse conditions, this plant could disappear forever. And all because this is a type of male plant, that is, it does not propagate in the usual way, but is distributed by dividing a single copy.
Endangered plants are sometimes considered completely extinct from the world, but a miracle happens and someone finds the last instance. This happened with the Gibraltarsky Smolevka, which for many years was considered lost to nature. But in 1994, one climber accidentally stumbled upon this flower high in the mountains. Today, this plant lives in the Gibraltar Botanical Garden and in the Royal Garden of London.
Due to the extinction of its only pollinators - nectarians - the beautiful flower, called the "Beak of the Parrot", has disappeared. Its inflorescences really resemble a bird's beak, although they have a red-orange color. The birthplace of the flower is the Canary Islands.
Another interesting flower that is now growing in captivity is chocolate cosmos. This unusual name was given to the Mexican flower, which has the smell of vanilla.
The cause of the disappearance of many plants is human activity, but natural elements also make their sad contribution. So, after the fires in 1978 in Hawaii, the Kokio flower disappeared from the wild, which grew only on the trunks of a certain type of tree.
Endangered Species
CR - this category is critical for all threatened species. It is possible that those plants that are in this category have long died, but scientists do not have time to conduct enough research to make sure of this. In 2011, under the sign of CR were 1619 species of plants.
Endangered plants of Russia also fell into this category. Plants such as ginseng, spring adonis, yellow water lily are on the verge of extinction in our country because of their medicinal properties. Many people, not suspecting that these are plants from the Red Book, pluck them, thereby destroying the entire population.
One of the rarest plants in the world is the mountain flower Edelweiss. It can be found in the Alps, Altai and the Caucasus, but for this you need to climb to a height of several thousand meters. A flower surrounded by legends, having inflorescences in the shape of stars, loves solitude, although it is the patron saint of lovers.
Plants from the Red Book are forbidden to pick. For example, in Switzerland for such an offense will have to pay an impressive fine.
Endangered species
EN - the status that species that risk disappearing due to their small numbers or adverse environmental conditions and their habitats receive.
Since the first man appeared on the planet, the extinction of animal and plant species has begun to pick up rapidly. This was due to both agriculture and hunting.
Which plants are dying and which are not, it is difficult to determine. This is because some habitats of species are simply unknown; it is not possible to determine their exact number.
The Red Book of Russia 652 species of plants that are considered endangered. Among them are a bush, a snowdrop, a leafy leaf, fori rhododendron, a nut-bearing lotus, a mountain peony, and many others.
Endangered plants in Russia are protected, albeit administratively. But in the event of the complete extermination of any type of plant from the Red Book, criminal liability will follow.
Vulnerable species
VU - protection status of plant species that are at risk of becoming endangered. But there are plants that breed well in captivity and, in fact, are not at risk. However, scientists tend to leave this status behind them, since there is a likelihood of a decline in the population in the wild. For example, a predatory plant, the venus flytrap, which feeds on insects and sometimes mollusks, has VU status.
This category of plants has more than five thousand plants, including mosses. For example, Russian cornflower, Scythian gorse, bear nut, Gesner tulip, yew berry, etc.
Species Dependent on Conservation Efforts
Since 1994, the International Union for Conservation of Nature has not introduced new plant species into this category. CD is a subcategory, which is divided into three branches:
- addicted to conservation;
- close to a vulnerable position;
- small threat.
252 species of this subcategory are listed in the International Red Book. For example, Cunonia rotundifolia, several species of eleocarpus, Mexican viburnum, etc.
Endangered plants almost never return to this category, since it is almost impossible to restore the population of endangered plants.
Close to vulnerable
NT status is assigned to animals and plants that may fall into the vulnerability group in the near future, but are not currently exposed to any threat. The main criteria for falling into this category are population decline and worldwide distribution.
In 2011, more than 1, 200 plants had this status.
