More than 571 plants have disappeared, but the extinction of the flora that does not affect public opinion

When we think about the problems for the environment, we think about the many endangered animals. Only in the background we think of plants, which still suffer from the same problem. Indeed the number of plants that have disappeared from the wild is more than twice the number of extinct birds, mammals and amphibians combined. 

Scientists have completed new research, the first global analysis on the subject, and they found that 571 species had definitely been wiped out since 1750 but with knowledge of many plant species still very limited the true number is underestimate. 

Not only that, scientists have shown that the extinction rate is 500 times greater today than in the pre industrial revolution period. 

The plant analysis found Hawaii had the most recorded extinctions (79), followed by the Cape provinces of South Africa (37), with Australia, Brazil, India and Madagascar also among the top regions. 

Dr Eimear Nic Lughadha, member of the theam, said at the Royal Botanic Gardens that «plants underpin all life on Earth. They provide the oxygen we breathe and the food we eat, as well as making up the backbone of the world’s ecosystems, so plant extinction is bad news for all species». 

The colleague Dr Maria Vorontsov said the true extinction rate for plants could easily be orders of magnitude higher than that reported in the study. The database of plant extinctions is the result of years of scouring scientific journals and fieldwork reports. 

The main cause of the extinctions is the destruction of natural habitats by human activities, especially because of deforestation, particularly intense today in developing countries, but forgetting that «millions of other species depend on plants for their survival, humans included, so knowing which plants we are losing and from where will feed back into conservation programmes» said Nic Lughadha. 

Vorontsova said: «We suffer from plant blindness. Animals are cute, important and diverse but I am absolutely shocked how a similar level of awareness and interest is missing for plants. We take them for granted and I don’t think we should». 

The scientists expect analysis will help conservation in the future by highlighting what types of plants are particularly vulnerable to extinction.