Care for rare plants

Press, 23 April 1983, Page 17

Care for rare plants

The Nature Conservation Council will co-ordinate the work of all agencies and individuals working for the preservation of rare and endangered plants. The suggestion that N.C.C. take on this role was made at a meeting earlier this year of representatives from Auckland University Gardens Department, the Wildlife Service, D.5.1.R., the Commission for the Environment, the Department of Lands and Survey, the N.C.C., and a number of city councils which administer botanic gardens. The council will investigate present standards of data recording and the contents of existing collec-

tions of rare and endangered plants, and study proposals for the establishment of regional collections. The key to success of the scheme was seen to be a complete nationwide data base. Mr David McKerchar, Director of National Parks, says that probably the greatest number of endangered plants species would be found in national parks, and that pressure on these would be reduced if legitimate collectors knew of alternative sources. “Nurserymen who want to grow an endangered species for sale to the public may be able to get their

seeds or cuttings from botanic gardens or other well-established collections rather than from shrinking wild populations,” he adds. Two new legislative proposals at present under consideration, the Wildlife Amendment Bill and the review of the Native Plants Protection Act, would enhance the protection of the rare and endangered plants in the wild, says Mr J. M. Bennett, who chaired the earlier meeting. The increasing interest of the gardening public in the cultivation of native plants would be helped by nationally-held records of alternative sources.