Century's search for lost plant

A plant which hasn't been seen in over a century, has been rediscovered by Kew's seed collectors foraging in China. Botanists can now investigate it's evolution and ensure it's never lost again.

The last time the Paraisometrum mileense was found growing in its native habitat was back in 1906. It was then collected by a French missionary working in China. After that, experts feared the species – a small yellow flowered plant which grows on limestone – had died out.

Chinese seed collectors working with Kew 's Millennium Seed Bank Project at Wakehurst Place in West Sussex have found the plant growing in Yunnan Province in South West China.

Seeds from the Paraisometrum mileense are now being preserved for conservation and research purposes and a living collection of the plant is being introduced into a botanic garden in China for public education.

Specialists at the Millennium Seed Bank Project, who are working with over 180 partners around the world, including China, to preserve threatened species for future generations, are overjoyed by the discovery.

Jie Cai, who is based at the Millennium Seed Bank and co-ordinates the collection of Chinese seeds, said: “It is greatly encouraging for botanists and conservationists to rediscover a species thought to be extinct in the wild and only to exist as a preserved, dried specimen in a herbarium.

“It provides an important opportunity for people to find out more about the plant's evolution, conservation and potential uses. Now its future can be protected so that it is no longer restricted to the herbarium cabinet.”

(March 2007)