Center for Plant Conservation

The Center for Plant Conservation (CPC) is dedicated solely to preventing the extinction of America’s imperiled native flora and restoring vigorous populations to the wild. Headquartered at the Missouri Botanical Garden in St. Louis, the CPC is a nonprofit organization with an independent board of trustees that coordinates a network of America’s leading botanical institutions working hands-on for plant conservation. By conducting imperiled native plant research, propagation and information exchange, the CPC’s network is striving to save America’s rarest plants from being lost forever.

Almost five percent of the flora of the United States, 925 species, are listed under the federal Endangered Species Act or qualify for listing. These species may be lost in the immediate future if intervention is not taken. Another 8,100 of our 23,000 native taxa are considered of conservation concern, according to NatureServe. Many rare plants are potentially useful to agriculture, forestry or pharmaceutical research. Others are of scientific interest or simply possess great natural beauty. The CPC’s goal is to save and restore these natural native treasures before they are lost forever.

Since its founding in 1984, the CPC has worked to create a systematic, comprehensive national program of plant conservation, research and education. While the national office provides coordination and support services, the CPC’s Participating Institutions and other cooperators perform field and horticultural work and maintain the National Collection of Endangered Plants.

The National Collection is a bank of seeds, cuttings and other plant material from the country’s most imperiled native plants. Botanists at CPC Participating Institutions gather and catalogue these plant materials according to strict standards developed by the CPC’s Science Advisory Council. The materials are then stored and maintained at the Participating Institution, preserving options for restoration. National Collection material is used to study the life cycle, ecology and genetics of these rare treasures, and plants propagated from the collection are used by botanists and researchers for private, state and federal plant and habitat restoration projects. The CPC has cooperative agreements or Memoranda of Understanding with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Bureau of Land Management, U.S. Department of Agriculture, U.S. Forest Service, Agricultural Research Service, Department of Defense and National Park Service.

The CPC now works with more than 750 species of rare, native plants. More than 33 million seeds from species in our National Collection are stored in seed banks maintained at the National Center for Genetic Resources Preservation of the U.S. Department of Agriculture and within CPC participating institutions. More than 280 restoration projects for these species are underway across the country.

Currently, 270 of the more than 750 species in the Collection are fully or partially sponsored by generous donors. Sponsorships endow a fund that provides secure, regular payments to the institution caring for the plant in need. Profiles of all the plants in the National Collection are available on the CPC website, www.centerforplantconservation.org.

For more information, please contact the CPC at (314) 577-9450 or e-mail cpc@mobot.org, or visit the website www.centerforplantconservation.org.

The Missouri Botanical Garden's mission is "to discover and share knowledge about plants and their environment in order to preserve and enrich life." Today, 152 years after opening, the Missouri Botanical Garden is a National Historic Landmark and a center for science and conservation, education and horticultural display.

7/2011