World rarest plant species

[glider14]

no one mentioned N. clipeata? what is it now. only 11 adults left in the wild?

worlds rarest plant-Dendroseris neriifolia. says their is only one individual in the wild left.
http://uhaie.blogspot.com/2008/01/dendroseris-neriifolia.html

Indigo: it says it is a parasitic plant. no need for chlorophyll. look up Monotropa uniflora

Alex

 

[Jefforever]

Shucks, I can't find the article I'm thinking of... But there was a plant, a single HUGE individual that just propagated vegetatively and was actually the only living remnant of the species, if I'm recalling correctly.

I remember seeing a cycad at Kew Gardens and they said it was the only one of it's kind ever found, and it is male (maybe sterile -- I can't remember).

There's certainly some things rare in Hawaii too.

 

[swords]

Hey Jack, it's not a century but a millenium! Sometimes those Welwitschias live for 2000 years.

Yes Stinkpot, you can get them on Ebay on occasion but those small strappy leaves in the gigantic/tall pots just don't have that Lovecraftian pizazz of the ancient ones sulking out in the desert!

I have a cutting of Euphorbia caput-medusae. The main species which Hydnora africana infects, if anyone has any H. africana spores laying about - send em my way! lol

I read an article somewhere online where a guy did actually successfully infect his caput-medusae plants with Hydnora. There was pictures on the site and description of how he did it.

Here is Medusa's Head or Euphobia caput-medusae the main host of Hydnora africana the "serpents" or "arms" get up to a meter long on this species!
Click the image for a large clear pic


Rafflesias are similar to Hydnora in that they infect Tetrastigma vines and then shoot out these crazy flowers. Infact both these parasites are classed in the same super-order of Rafflesianae. Here is the largest species Rafflesia arnoldii

Image from back cover of Rafflesias of the World by Jamili Nais. There is somewhere in the book a study of attempts to inoculate Tetrastigma vines with Rafflesia keithii IIRC but I can't remember if they were successful or not and of course I can't find what page it's on in the book at the moment!

 

[Indigo]

no one mentioned N. clipeata? what is it now. only 11 adults left in the wild?

worlds rarest plant-Dendroseris neriifolia. says their is only one individual in the wild left.
http://uhaie.blogspot.com/2008/01/dendroseris-neriifolia.html

Indigo: it says it is a parasitic plant. no need for chlorophyll. look up Monotropa uniflora

Alex

i had no idea about N. clipeata only have that small amount of adult plants growing in the wild. i thought most nepenthes is being TC so... thank you for sharing

and yeah need more study on parasitic plant

the one Av8tor1 mention is kinda sad. no female Wollemi Pine Tree, so extinction for this species is surely but slowly. :-(

 

[swords]

I believe Av8tor wants a Wollemi Pine but it's Encephalartos woodii who is the cycad that has no mate.

E. woodii is considered extinct in the wild since the original clump of plants was taken from the wild, divided and all original divisions died in cultivation. But there are presumed to be at least 500 artificially propagated plants of E. woodii in cultivation since the plant seems to take to cuttings and creating offsets well though it's a slow procedure taking 5 years for a cutting to settle and begin creating offshoots. Tissue culture is being investigated but is complicated by obtaining bacteria free tissues This is paraphrased from the book The Cycads by Loren M Whitelock

 

[carnivoure12]

Rafflesia anorldii also is the largest single flower in the world. Titan arum is commonly mistakenly called the largest flower. however Titan arum is the largest unbranched inflorescense meaning lots of flowers. and what looks like a a giant flower is really a modified leaf that protects the flowers.

 

[back2eight]

What about a ghost orchid, isn't that pretty rare?

 

[Dexenthes]

Wow, this thread is awesome, now I have more plants to add to my twisted wishlist.

 

[swords]

Here's a link to the leafless mass of roots known as the american Ghost Orchid quite easily obtainable now thanks to TC
I like small orchids that can be grown on sticks!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dendrophylax_lindenii

 

[carnivoure12]

N. pitopangii, there was only one individual found in the entire area by stewart, he says it was probably a stray seed that germinated but the rest perished.

 

[seedjar]

Rafflesias are similar to Hydnora in that they infect Tetrastigma vines and then shoot out these crazy flowers. Infact both these parasites are classed in the same super-order of Rafflesianae.

Here's an interesting bit of trivia regarding Rafflesiaceae - they've recently been shown to be a clade in the Euphorbiaceae. (This probably doesn't mean jack to most of you, but swords and I both collect Euphorbs.)
I just looked to see if those results also applied to Hydnora, because I thought it was related to Rafflesia, but it's not. I was surprised to find that it's in the Piperales, along with ginger and Indian pepper - apparently Aristolochia is the most closely related sibling genus.
~Joe

 

[swords]

According to Rafflesia of the World they are/were classed in the same super-order I shall paraphrase page 4:

"In terms of taxonomic position Takhtajan placed the super-order Rafflesianae (containing Rafflesiaceae and Hydnoraceae) between the sub-classes Magnoliidae and Ranunculidae. ...(description of years of botanical mischief up and down the order ladder)... Thorne places the super-order Rafflesiliflorae near the more primitive dicotyledons in the super-order Annoniflorae, which includes the Order Annonales and the family Aristolochiaceae."

And again they are paired up in a list of parasitic plant families on page 6:
entry # 3. Rafflesiaceae & Hydnoraceae

Unfortunately that's the last mention of Hydnora in the book. Perhaps they aren't as related as they appear to me in this text.

Bad book, I shall make it sit in the corner!

 

[glider14]

or N. mollis =]

Alex