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A Never-Before-Documented Flower Blooms on One of Worldâs Rarest Trees â A Hopeful Sign For a Comeback
Cassidy Moody, Missouri Botanical Garden
In a greenhouse in Missouri, a tree listed as critically endangered produced a flower which had never been recorded before by science in the perfect metaphor for the species’ chances of survival.
The botanists caring for it believe there’s no question they can save the tree since collecting pollen from this flower, as they can now cross-pollinate its thirty-strong sapling neighbors to restore genetic diversity.
Karomia gigas is a member of the mint family, and is also related to oregano, rosemary, and thyme. It grows wild only in East-Central Africa, in Tanzania, and in the past in Kenya. It’s so unknown there’s no common name for it in English, Swahili, or any other African language.
20 May 2021, 11:21 BST
The Karomia gigas purple flower lasted only 24 hours before it wilted. Horticulturalists at the Missouri Botanical Garden expect more to bloom in the coming weeks, a hopeful sign for the rare Karomia gigas tree.
Photograph by Cassidy Moody, Missouri Botanical Garden
As far as the plant scientists at the Missouri Botanical Garden in St. Louis know, the tiny purple-and-white flower that recently grew in their greenhouse has never before been seen – at least by experts like them.
On May 3, Justin Lee, a senior horticulturist at the garden, was checking on a group of
Karomia gigas tree saplings in a greenhouse when he spotted the flower. The tree, related to mint and originally from Africa, is one of the world’s most critically endangered tree species.