Endangered Plants: Smithsonian Spotlights At-Risk Flora
Pity the Pima pineapple cactus. It inhabits a scant 350 square miles stretching through Sonora, Mexico, and two fast-developing counties in Arizona. Commercial and retail construction is eating up its habitat, and as more people move to the desert, they’re further threatening the Pima by hiking, biking, and driving through its territory. Non-native species planted in yards and gardens compete for precious water and nutrients.
The disappearing plant landed on the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s endangered species list in 1993, and conservationists have stepped up efforts to save it by setting aside land, salvaging plants, and cultivating it from seeds. Still, the pineapple-shaped cactus topped with a white flower doesn’t get much press. Endangered plants don’t generally generate the same level of concern as whales or wolves or polar bears.
But maybe they should. Conservationists believe that about a fifth of the world’s plants -- more than 70,000 species -- are threatened with extinction over the next century. The new Smithsonian exhibition Losing Paradise? Endangered Plants Here and Around the World features 44 framed illustrations, a gallery of paintings, and drawings of some of the rarest and most threatened plants on earth. It’s on display at the National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C., through December 12.
"Art reaches people in a different way," says Carol Woodin of the American Society of Botanical Artists, which has also brought Losing Paradise to The New York Botanical Garden, the Chicago Botanical Garden, and the Missouri Botanical Garden. "Pointing out the individual beauty of each plant will make people stop and pay attention for a change."
Organized by the museum and the American Society of Botanical Artists, Losing Paradise is both art and science exhibit. The portraits on display were chosen for their beauty, but they also teach crucial lessons about the causes and consequences of the plants’ demise. The show stars lushly petaled slipper orchids in fuchsia and red and the star-shaped crimson flowers of the Royal catchfly, painted in watercolors.
There are an estimated 350,000 species of plants on earth, according to botanists. And they have to deal with the same problems that threaten animals -- habitat loss from human development, the introduction of non-native species, and global warming. The Santa Cruz cypress, for example, is found only in central California’s Santa Cruz Mountains, where vineyard and residential development have left only a few thousand trees within a 15-mile stretch of coast. Australia’s magenta lilly pilly is in trouble because its coastal rainforest habitat is critically endangered. In its native Mauritius, the blue latan palm is rare, its habitat making way for agriculture and commercial development.
To study these plants, conservationists need good images, and a photograph is often not ideal. "Illustrated records, if they’re done properly and scientifically, can show aspects of a plant that you can’t capture with a photograph," says curator Gary Krupnick with the Smithsonian’s botany department. "They can show the life cycles of a plant, the seedling stage, the flowering stage, the fruiting stage." A photograph shows a plant at one point in time and from one angle. Some botanical artists will dissect a plant to show parts that a photographer could not capture.
Artist Alice Tangerini used a microscope to study hairs a fraction of a millimeter wide on the stems of the Mortoniodendron in order to make her pen, brush, and ink drawing as accurate as possible. "Losing Paradise" devotes an entire case to her work, showing the techniques and tools used to create 11 separate drawings of the tropical tree. Tangerini said scientists asked her to draw Mortoniodendron for the same reason they ask for many illustrations -- they discovered a species and needed an accurate and detailed record. "I act as the scientists’ eyes," she said.
Peter Raven, president of the Missouri Botanical Garden, estimates that worldwide, 50,000 to 60,000 plant species have yet to be named and described. And frequently, these newfound species are threatened or endangered. Losing Paradise roots their hope for survival in conservation groups and governments, which can preserve habitat and outlaw the collection, destruction, and trade of fragile plants.
But Losing Paradise also asks the non-professional to help. Gardeners can research and plant threatened native species in their backyards. And you don’t have to be a professional botanical artist to draw or photograph species for local conservation efforts. Think of the exhibition as a plea to help keep these plants alive.
For more information on saving plants locally and around the world and information about how to see Losing Paradise, visit the exhibition website.