Plants for life: - Sacred Seeds Sanctuary

Working with local authorities, OaxacaBotanic Garden in Mexico hasrecommended Guiacum coulteri beplanted in local parks and publicgardens, as well as making seedsavailable to local schools and communityorganizations (A.de Avila, pers.comm.).The Tasmania Herbarium in Australiaused its living collections to supportscreening by a large pharmaceuticalcompany searching for active medicinalcompounds, in accordance with accessand benefit sharing regulations(Papworth, pers.comm.).NetworkingNo single sector, public or private, canundertake the conservation of medicinalplants alone and the neutral nature ofbotanic gardens puts them in a goodposition to act as intermediaries betweenvarious commercial and scientific interests.The importance of enhancedcommunication and knowledge exchangebetween concerned parties has also beenrecognised by the GSPC, which statesthat networking can avoid duplication ofconservation effort, enable thedevelopment of common approaches,help strengthen links between differentsectors and ensure the co-ordination ofpolicy development at all levels.Target 16 of the GSPC calls for theestablishment and strengthening ofplant conservation networks.The Jardin Botânico da FundaçâoZoobotânica de Belo Horizonte in Brazilpartners with universities to study thechemical composition and biologicalactivites of local medicinal plants(Nogueira, pers.comm.).The Botanic Gardens of Adelaide inAustralia, as well as developingeducation programs for schools basedaround indigenous knowledge and thetraditional uses of plants, work closelywith hospitals on harmful plants andtoxicology (Christensen, pers.comm.).In situ conservationAs recognised by the CBD, in situconservation is the preferablemethodology, since ex situ conservationtends to take place outside the range stateof the target species. The preservation ofspecies in situ offers all the advantages ofallowing natural selection to act, whichcannot be recreated ex situ. Unless plantscan be conserved in their natural habitats,in variable breeding populations, they runthe risk of extinction.In reality, many species exist only aspart of ecosystems and cannotsurvive unless their ecosystems arepreserved along with as much aspossible of the biodiversity theycontain. Cistanche deserticola, forexample, an important plant in TCM,is dependent on two fungi; Mycenaosmundicola (to draw nutrients fromthe soil and allow seed germination)and Armillaria mellea (which must beincorporated into the tuber tomaintain growth to maturity).Similarly, Cistanche deserticola isparasitic to the roots of the desertshrub Haloxylon spp. The Haloxylongenus is notoriously difficult tocultivate, and is also know as ‘coal ofthe desert’ because of its firewoodproperties. The conservation of thesespecies cannot be removed from thehabitats they exist within.Traditionally, in situ conservation hasinvolved the protection of species withintheir natural habitats in various forms ofland set aside as nature reserves or otherprotected areas. This approach cordonsoff certain areas and restricts their use.Though often hampered by weakenforcement capacity, protected areasare of critical importance since we haveyet to master the sustainable use ofmedicinal plant resources in the wild.Botanic garden display including various aloes, which are commonly used forskin conditions.Botanic gardens are involved in themanagement of natural habitats in thisway, as well as carrying out field-work,such as wild population surveys.A priority for medicinal plant conservationis the carrying out of ecogeographicalsurveys, followed by proper targeted insitu species conservation with as manysamples of genetic (therefore chemical)variation as possible preserved(Heywood, pers.comm.).18Plants for life: Medicinal plant conservation and botanic gardens