Mohamed bin Zayed Species project number 162513788

Rough terrain conservation collections: a genetic study and outplanting of Polyscias bisattenuata (Araliaceae), a critically endangered endangered member of the Flora of Hawaii.

Congressionally chartered in 1964, the National Tropical Botanical Garden (NTBG) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit dedicated to preserving tropical plant diversity and stemming the wave of extinction through plant exploration, propagation, habitat restoration, scientific research, and education.

NTBG has made conservation of endangered and threatened flora its highest priority. The Living Collections department is tasked with collecting, curating, growing and outplanting propagules from the rarest plants, including species on the Plant Extinction Prevention Program (PEPP) list, which have 50 or fewer individuals remaining in the wild. NTBG's Living Collection Field Botanist focuses on recalcitrant seeded taxa which cannot be stored and are best preserved as living trees.

This project will make methodical and comprehensive conservation seed collections from some of the less than 50 remaining individuals of the US federally endangered species Polyscias bisattenuata. We will be deploying rodent resistant bags to protect and collect fruit from the few remaining wild populations on the steep cliffs of Eastern Kauai Island. Additionally Identification of wild outlier sub-populations that display confounding morphologies will be resolved with the use of a novel molecular technique and inform conservation managment. Using collected material, we will grow and maintain this recalcitrant seeded species in protected restorations within its natural range.