Magazine Feature: Can botanic gardens save all plants? (Current Biol. – $)

In the past botanic gardens served many purposes ranging from providing tranquil environment, spreading crops to places far away from their natural environment and providing emerging botanists with live samples. Currently, botanic gardens provide entertainment and education for millions of visitors. Can they also contribute to plant conservation? The location of botanic gardens is not exactly overlapping with the highest plant diversity, which is found in the tropics. While endangered species are often represented in botanical gardens, the preference seems to be given to large vascular plants, while smaller, non-vascular plants are often being overlooked. While botanical gardens in wide climate diversity might significantly contribute to ex situ plant conservation, it is no replacement for the maintenance efforts of the original habitat. (Summary by Magdalena Julkowska) Curr. Biol. 10.1016/j.cub.2018.09.010