Bonn University Botanic Gardens Showcase the Value of Conservation

From Easter Island to Endangered Grasses

Radscheit started by recounting the story of Sophora toromiro, a tree endemic to Easter Island. Known for its towering moai statues, the island has a well-known history of ecological fragility. Once heavily forested, trees were mostly gone by the time of European contact in the early 18th century. Remarkably, a surviving specimen of toromiro was discovered in the Gardens in 1980. How it got there, nobody knows. Since then, staff have propagated toromiro and distributed seeds to other gardens. This enabled the reintroduction of toromiro to Easter Island in 1995.

“Many attempts to reintroduce plants back to their natural habitats have failed. It requires a lot of capacity from those who look after the trees. Once the seeds are in our hands, they can be safe. But if we make a mistake, they’re gone forever,” shared Radscheit.

Closer to home, the Gardens have worked to conserve Corynephorus canescens, a local, endangered variety of silver grass. “We look at the international picture”, Radscheit said, “but we also reintroduce their local plants to the people of Bonn.”

This balance is reflected in the Gardens’ seed bank. It conserves a wide range of species, from pepper to resilient niche crops like amaranth. In 2023, Bonn University Botanic Gardens deposited seeds in the Svalbard Global Seed Vault, contributing to the long-term preservation of plant diversity for future generations. 

Sharing Seeds and Awareness

The Gardens publish an annual Index Seminum – a curated seed catalogue shared with over 600 institutions worldwide. It offers around 1,000 seed samples for non-commercial research, education and conservation. 

Despite these far-reaching efforts, public engagement and understanding can still pose a challenge. 

“If you ask people what biodiversity means to them, the answers vary a lot,” said Radscheit. “People are quite interested in conservation but they don’t realize that it starts right at their doorstep.”

This drives outreach efforts at the Gardens. “A very big part of our work is to show the world what is possible,” said Dominik. As a result, the Gardens have a wide range of public engagement events. From after-school courses for kids to annual botanical lunches, the local community can hear from and speak to gardeners and other practitioners. 

Ultimately, the team hopes that visitors walk away with both beautiful memories and a sense of responsibility and possibility. “We want to make the world a bit greener, and help it stay that way,” Radscheit added.