Journal of Botanic Gardens Conservation International BGjournalVolume 4 • Number 1 • January 2007 Special 2007 anniversary issue Taxonomy and plant conservation the tercentenary of the birth of Carl Linnaeus (1707-1778) 20 YEARS 1987-2007 Contents 02 Editorial Editors: Etelka Leadlay and Sara Oldfield Co-editors: Suzanne Sharrock and Fiona Wild 04 The legacy of Linnaeus Cover Photo: Sarracenia flava L. a species described by Linnaeus in Species Plantarum 1:510 (1753) in Linnaean names and their types: a permanent reference point cultivation at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew 08 (Photo: BGCI) Design: John Morgan, Seascape 12 Taxonomy and plant conservation E-mail: [email protected] Submissions for the next issue should reach the editor 16 Botanical buffet – the importance of living collections for plant before 20th March, 2007. The theme of this issue will be climate change. We would welcome contributions. systematics Please send text on diskette or via e-mail, as well as a hard copy. Please send photographs as original slides or prints unless scanned to a very high resolution (300 21 Taxonomy is the tool that measures plant diversity – and our pixels/inch and 100mm in width); digital images need to level of knowledge be of a high resolution for printing. If you would like further information, please request Notes for authors. BGjournal is published by Botanic Gardens Conservation 24 The Catalogue of Life: indexing the world’s species International (BGCI). It is published twice a year and is sent to all BGCI members. Membership is open to all interested individuals, institutions and organisations that 30 Book notices and taxonomic support the aims of BGCI (see page 32 for Membership resources application form). Further details available from: • Botanic Gardens Conservation International, Descanso 31 Linnaean Celebrations 2007 House, 199 Kew Road, Richmond, Surrey TW9 3BW UK. Tel: +44 (0)20 8332 5953, Fax: +44 (0)20 8332 5956 E-mail: [email protected], www.bgci.org 32 Registration Form for the • BGCI-Russia, c/o Main Botanical Gardens, Botanicheskaya st., 4, Moscow 127276, Russia. International Agenda for Botanic Tel: +7 (095) 219 6160 / 5377, Fax: +7 (095) 218 0525, Gardens in Conservation E-mail: [email protected], www.bgci.ru • BGCI (U.S.) Inc., c/o Brooklyn Botanic Garden, 1000 Washington Avenue, Brooklyn, New York How to join Botanic Gardens 11225-1099, U.S.A. Tel: +1 718 623 7200, Fax: +1 718 857 2430, E-mail: [email protected] Conservation International www.bgci.org/us • BGCI-Netherlands, c/o Utrecht University Botanic Gardens, P.O. Box 80162, NL-3508 TD, Netherlands. Tel: +31 30 253 2876, Fax: +31 30 253 5177, E-mail: [email protected], www.bi.uu.nl/botgard 08 12 • BGCI-Canarias, c/o Jardín Botánico Canario Viera y Clavijo, Apartado de Correos 14, Tafira Alta 35017, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Gran Canaria, Spain. Tel: +34 928 21 95 80/82/83, Fax: +34 928 21 95 81, E-mail: [email protected] • BGCI – China and South East Asia, c/o Registry, Singapore Botanic Gardens, 1 Cluny Road, Singapore 259569. E-mail: Bian.Tan @bgci.org, [email protected], www.bgci.org/china • BGCI-Colombia , c/o Jardín Botánico de Bogotá, Jose Celestino Mutis, Av. No. 61-13 – A.A. 59887, Santa Fe de Bogotá, D.C., Colombia. Tel: +57 630 0949, Fax: +57 630 5075, E-mail: [email protected], www.humboldt.org.co/jardinesdecolombia/ html/la_red.htm • BGCI-Deutschland, c/o Botanischer Gärten der Universität Bonn, Meckenheimer Allee 171, 53115 Bonn, Germany. Tel: +49 2 2873 9055, Fax: +49 2 28731690, E-mail: [email protected] 04 BGCI is a worldwide membership organization established in 1987. Its mission is to build a global network for plant conservation. BGCI is an independent organization registered in the United Kingdom as a charity (Charity Reg No 1098834) and a company limited by guarantee, No 4673175. BGCI is a tax-exempt (501(c)(3) non-profit organization in the USA and in Russia. Opinions expressed in this publication do not necessarily reflect the views of the Boards or staff of BGCI or of its members BGjournal replaces BGCNews and is published twice a year. BGjournal has been given a new name as the news section of BGCNews and Roots (Botanic Gardens Conservation International Education Review) is now contained in Cuttings which is published quarterly. There are 31 issues of BGCNews published twice yearly from 1987-2003. 16 21 24 BGjournal • Vol 4 (1) 01 Editorial Right: Dracaena The diversity of plant species is a draco is under fascination to all botanists, an threat in the inspiration to gardeners and, although wild (IUCN generally taken for granted, provides Category: the basis for all life on earth. Species Vulnerable). The diversity represents millions of years of Botanic Garden evolution and is the most important ‘Viera y Clavijo’, visible expression of biodiversity, giving within the conservation debate. plant species. He believed that this Las Palmas, character to ecosystems and shape to The ecosystem approach dominates represented roughly half the world’s Spain has genetic diversity. Understanding and discussion of biodiversity conservation flora. Now we know that closer to undertaken a recording plant diversity depends on whereas mammals and birds are used 300,000 vascular plant species exist. successful naming species. In this issue of as indicators of biodiversity status and programme to BGjournal we mark the 300th health. The Convention on Biological Target 2 of the GSPC depends on the restore the anniversary of Linnaeus, the founder of Diversity (CBD) Global Strategy for classification and naming of plants. It island’s last modern species nomenclature and Plant Conservation (GSPC) was calls for A preliminary assessment of laurel forests variously described as “the Prince of developed to address both the relative the conservation status of all known and reintroduce Flowers” or “the Father of Botany”. invisibility of plants in international plant species, at national, regional and the Dragon Tree conservation fora and, more critically, international levels. At present, to the wild. Botanic gardens have an extremely the actual loss of plant species. progress towards meeting Target 2 is (Photo: BGCI) important role to play in studying, slow at an international level, not naming, cataloguing and displaying plant The GSPC is currently the subject of because of the lack of data but diversity. All these roles are clearly an in-depth review and the progress because of lack of organization of the important as a basis for plant towards meeting its ambitious targets information on conservation status. conservation. As pointed out by Tim will be highlighted within CBD over the This is an issue of concern, resulting in Entwisle in this issue, having a focussed next two years. The contribution that the invisibility of plants in global collections policy is a basic requirement botanic gardens are making to the species assessments and conservation for each botanic garden to manage its GSPC is remarkable, individually and planning. Botanic gardens, however, plant resources to maximum effect. collectively through BGCI and the are playing a major role in assessing Managing information on plants in the Global Partnership for Plant the conservation status of plant collections is also an important Conservation. Target 1 of the GSPC, as species and recording this information, requirement recognized by botanic highlighted by Vernon Heywood, Karen for example in the TROPICOS gardens around the world. Collection Wilson and Frank Bisby in this issue, database maintained by Missouri policies and management of collections calls for A widely accessible working Botanical Garden and the taxonomic depend on taxonomy and plant list of known plant species, as a step publications produced by the Royal nomenclature, the often invisible towards a complete world flora. There Botanic Gardens, Kew. sciences that determine the nature of is a good likelihood of this target being botanic gardens. met and this achievement in itself will Targets 1 and 2 underpin the other 16 validate the importance of the GSPC. targets of the GSPC and are In the wider scheme of things, plant Linnaeus described and catalogued fundamentally important for botanic species are being lost both literally with around 9,000 plant species, laying the gardens to do their work. BGCI is the increasing pace of extinctions and basis for a global working list of known taking a lead role in facilitating Targets 02 BGjournal • Vol 4 (1) 8 and 14 of the GSPC, reflecting the data. At present there are over 150,000 and Genera of 1992 and eliminated key responsibilities of botanic gardens taxa recorded in PlantSearch provided misspellings, synonyms and misplaced in ex situ plant conservation and by 637 gardens, of which over 11,000 names. Currently BGCI screens all education. Target 8 calls for 60 per cent species are recorded as globally plant names in PlantSearch against the of threatened plant species in threatened. International Plant Names Index (IPNI) accessible ex situ collections, preferably (www.ipni.org) as a means of in the country of origin, and 10 per cent Managing the PlantSearch database is eliminating invalidly published names. of them included in recovery and a major challenge for BGCI and I would Looking ahead, do we need to promote restoration programmes. A major tool like to begin a dialogue about the a standard naming system for gardens, for monitoring Target 8 at a global level priorities for developing the database to allow for easy collaboration both