Bok Tower Gardens is one of 28 botanical gardens and arboreta in the United States that are members of the Center for Plant Conservation . The CPC and its participating institutions are dedicated to preventing the extinctions of the rarest native plants in the U.S. by maintaining a national collection of endangered plant species. They develop propagation techniques, reintroduce endangered plants to the wild, provide opportunities for research and education, and prevent the extinction of our rarest plants by maintaining them in cultivation.
Bok Tower Gardens maintains 38 species (see list below) of Central and North Florida endangered plants. Some of these species are almost extinct in the wild. The endangered Lakela's mint (Dicerandra immaculata) occurs only on Florida's Atlantic Coastal Ridge where it has been quietly going extinct. In cooperation with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Bok Tower Gardens recently planted nursery-grown Lakela's mints in the Hobe Sound National Wildlife Refuge where it will have a better chance for survival.
Another exceedingly rare plant, Florida jujube (Ziziphis celata), is known from only five sites, and has never been observed to produce seeds in the wild. At Bok Tower's endangered plant gardens, Florida jujube, cultivated from stem cuttings taken from the wild, has flowered and produced viable seeds (below photo shows worker hand pollinating the plant). Now seedlings of this rarest of plants are growing at Bok Tower Gardens and soon will be reintroduced into their native habitat.
Bok Tower Gardens, along with Fairchild Tropical Gardens in Miami and the Center for Plant Conservation, coordinates the Florida Rare Plant Task Force, which works to develop and implement conservation strategies for rare plants in Florida. They rescue rare plants that would otherwise be destroyed by development and assist government agencies and non-profit organizations in conservation of endangered plants.
Edward Bok would be proud to see his legacy of conservation continued in such an important and professional manner.
Bok Tower Gardens is one of 28 botanical gardens and arboreta in the United States that are members of the Center for Plant Conservation . The CPC and its participating institutions are dedicated to preventing the extinctions of the rarest native plants in the U.S. by maintaining a national collection of endangered plant species. They develop propagation techniques, reintroduce endangered plants to the wild, provide opportunities for research and education, and prevent the extinction of our rarest plants by maintaining them in cultivation.
Bok Tower Gardens maintains 38 species (see list below) of Central and North Florida endangered plants. Some of these species are almost extinct in the wild. The endangered Lakela's mint (Dicerandra immaculata) occurs only on Florida's Atlantic Coastal Ridge where it has been quietly going extinct. In cooperation with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Bok Tower Gardens recently planted nursery-grown Lakela's mints in the Hobe Sound National Wildlife Refuge where it will have a better chance for survival.
