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The loneliest trees: can science save these threatened species from extinction?

The Mulanje Cedar, Widdringtonia whytei, is the national tree of Malawi.

Mount Mulanje in Malawi is the only natural home of the cypress Widdringtonia whytei. In 2019, only seven mature specimens remained. As a result of conservation efforts, half a million of these trees now thrive. Credit: Morgan Trimble/Alamy

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Nature 609, 24-27 (2022)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-022-02765-x

Updates & Corrections

  • Correction 16 September 2022: This News Feature incorrectly stated that surviving specimens of the endangered catkin yew Amentotaxus argotaenia in southern China are male. In fact, the male-only population is specifically in Hong Kong.

References

  1. Botanic Gardens Conservation International & Fauna & Flora International. Securing a Future for the World’s Threatened Trees — A Global Challenge (BGCI/FFI, 2021).

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  2. Botanic Gardens Conservation International. State of the World’s Trees (BGCI, 2021).

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  3. Gatti, R. C. et al. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 119, e2115329119 (2022).

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  4. Wyse, S. V., Dickie, J. B. & Willis, K. J. Nature Plants 4, 848–850 (2018).

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