About the plant
Endemic to the Juan Fernández Islands, in the South Pacific, this precious island plant has large bright orange flowers.
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Critically endangered
The International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List of Threatened Species uses a set of criteria to evaluate the extinction risk of the world’s species. The ongoing mission is to evaluate every plant species in the world.
IUCN Red List Status:
Not yet evaluatedData deficientLeast concernNear threatenedVulnerableEndangeredCritically endangeredExtinct in the wildExtinct -
Animal foodPlant is used as fodder to feed farm animals
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Banked in the MSBSeeds from this plant have been banked in Kew’s Millennium Seed Bank, at Wakehurst in Sussex
Facts
- Bright orange flowers
- Huge cabbage-like leaves
- In the same family as sunflowers
- Pollinated by hummingbirds
© Andrew Hasson
© Andrew Hasson
By Spencer C.H. Barrett via Wikimedia Commons
© Harriet Maxwell
Greedy goats
Over 100 of Juan Fernández Island’s 156 plant species are endemic, meaning they don’t grow anywhere else on Earth in the wild.
Like many precious island plants, one of the cabbage tree’s greatest threats came from feral goats. The feral goats were introduced by European settlers. Populations of this once prolific species plummeted to just three mature trees by the 1980s. Since the goats have been removed the situation has improved.
-
Critically endangered
The International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List of Threatened Species uses a set of criteria to evaluate the extinction risk of the world’s species. The ongoing mission is to evaluate every plant species in the world.
IUCN Red List Status:
Not yet evaluatedData deficientLeast concernNear threatenedVulnerableEndangeredCritically endangeredExtinct in the wildExtinct -
Animal foodPlant is used as fodder to feed farm animals
-
Banked in the MSBSeeds from this plant have been banked in Kew’s Millennium Seed Bank, at Wakehurst in Sussex