Commidendrum rotundifolium
Encyclopedia
The Bastard Gumwood is a species of tree endemic to the island of Saint Helena
. It was thought to be extinct, but one last tree was discovered in Horse Pasture in 1982. This tree, long believed to be the last, was destroyed in 1986 by a gale. Fortunately seedlings were grown from this tree before it perished. The last of these to survive in cultivation was damaged by gales in 2008 and the survival of the species was in doubt.
In December 2009, Lourens Malan, a horticulturist working for the island's conservation department under the Critical Species Recovery Project, discovered a wild tree growing on a cliff. A local team of botanists, conservationists and volunteers commenced an intensive programme of hand pollination and seed collection of the remaining cultivated tree, while protecting it from insects that may cross-pollinate with nearby false gumwoods
. Successful fertilisation will occur only if any grains of pollen
happen to have mutation
s that will suppress the tree's mechanisms for preventing self-pollination.
With funding from DEFRA an intensive propogation and nursery programme has demonstrated that a low percentage (0.2%) of viable seed can be generated by this method and to date (Oct 2010) 250 seedlings have been grown for the recovery of the species.
Saint Helena
Saint Helena , named after St Helena of Constantinople, is an island of volcanic origin in the South Atlantic Ocean. It is part of the British overseas territory of Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha which also includes Ascension Island and the islands of Tristan da Cunha...
. It was thought to be extinct, but one last tree was discovered in Horse Pasture in 1982. This tree, long believed to be the last, was destroyed in 1986 by a gale. Fortunately seedlings were grown from this tree before it perished. The last of these to survive in cultivation was damaged by gales in 2008 and the survival of the species was in doubt.
In December 2009, Lourens Malan, a horticulturist working for the island's conservation department under the Critical Species Recovery Project, discovered a wild tree growing on a cliff. A local team of botanists, conservationists and volunteers commenced an intensive programme of hand pollination and seed collection of the remaining cultivated tree, while protecting it from insects that may cross-pollinate with nearby false gumwoods
Commidendrum spurium
The False Gumwood is a species of flowering plant in the Asteraceae family.It is found only in Saint Helena.Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests, rocky areas, and rocky shores....
. Successful fertilisation will occur only if any grains of pollen
Pollen
Pollen is a fine to coarse powder containing the microgametophytes of seed plants, which produce the male gametes . Pollen grains have a hard coat that protects the sperm cells during the process of their movement from the stamens to the pistil of flowering plants or from the male cone to the...
happen to have mutation
Mutation
In molecular biology and genetics, mutations are changes in a genomic sequence: the DNA sequence of a cell's genome or the DNA or RNA sequence of a virus. They can be defined as sudden and spontaneous changes in the cell. Mutations are caused by radiation, viruses, transposons and mutagenic...
s that will suppress the tree's mechanisms for preventing self-pollination.
With funding from DEFRA an intensive propogation and nursery programme has demonstrated that a low percentage (0.2%) of viable seed can be generated by this method and to date (Oct 2010) 250 seedlings have been grown for the recovery of the species.
Source
- Cairns-Wicks, R. 2003. Commidendrum rotundifolium. In: IUCN 2006. 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. www.iucnredlist.org.