Almost every school child has heard about the plight of the panda. In fact, pandas have become an international symbol for endangered species. But how many people think about prairie bush clover, or even the beautiful Eastern prairie white fringed orchid, when the topic of endangered species comes up?
Did you know:
• All life depends on plants. Humans use plants for food, medicine, clothing, shelter and oxygen. We directly depend on plants for our survival.
• The earth’s plants are in peril. According to the 1997 World Conservation Union report, 34,000 species, or 12.5 percent, of the world’s flora are facing extinction. In the United States, 4,669 species, or 29 percent of the country’s plants, are in danger of becoming extinct. United States flora is the fourth most threatened flora in the world, behind that of St. Helena, Mauritius and the Seychelles.
• As of January 2001, there were 735 species of plants, but only 496 animals, listed as threatened and endangered by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service.
• Unless action is taken now, one-third of the earth’s species could be extinct by 2050 and two-thirds could be extinct by 2100, according to estimates by Dr. Peter Raven and other prominent scientists.
The Chicago Botanic Garden is committed to conserving the rarest plant species of the Midwest and working with other regional, national and international organizations on behalf of plant conservation. Conservation is a mission common to many of the Garden’s departments and is the primary focus of the Conservation Science Department.
