California Plant Rescue is a collaboration of institutions working towards conserving California's native plant species through the collection of seeds and living plants for the purpose of securing high levels of genetic diversity in off-site collections such as botanic gardens and seed banks to safeguard these populations. We also gather information about wild populations to ensure a baseline of information is available for future generations. Through our field work and research we have created a public database of our collections, and through these collections and our research we are learning more about what these plants need to survive (such as their ideal germination conditions) and formulating strategies to recover and strengthen native populations of these species around the state.
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Our HistoryIn 2014, staff at California Botanic Garden (Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden at the time) published an article delving into the current state of rare plant seed collections in California. Looking at the collections held at various institutions, it was clear that more needed to be done to conserve the botanical heritage of California and the diversity of the California Floristic Province, and they identified a need to focus collection priorities on the rare and threatened taxa.
After contacting the various botanical institutions in California, many of them members of the Center for Plant Conservation, the idea for the California Rare Plant initiative began to form. By the end of 2015 ten institutions had agreed to work together to share collection information, prioritize collections, share targeting goals, and fundraise. At the California Native Plant Society (CNPS) Conservation Conference in 2015 the group declared their focus on ensuring collections from California's rare or threatened taxa (ranked 1B by the CNPS Inventory of Rare and Endangered Plants) are represented in regional seed banks. |
In 2019, the group received funding from California's state budget and that greatly propelled our collection making. Collecting members have been able to stretch across the state, addressing gaps in the northern and eastern areas of the state that were under-represented. Our collection rate moved from a group average of adding 9 new types of plants per year to adding 91. As a result, we have made immense progress toward conserving the rare and threatened taxa of our state, with 92% of plants recognized as 1B added to our collections as of 2024. In 2026, we hope to meet our goal set in 2019 to have banked 1,166 1B-ranked taxa - a target which feels achievable given the collection rate of our members in recent years. [<-- is there an updated goal we can use here?]
What We Do
Conservation CollectionsWe make collections of seed and plant cuttings to store in seed banks and botanical gardens long-term, known as ex situ conservation.
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ResearchResearch on the seeds and plants in our collection informs future conservation efforts and uses of our collections. We conduct research and provide material for research.
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Support Wild PopulationsWe monitor populations and their threats to better inform in situ conservation management needs - which may include enhancing populations with plant material from our collections.
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Our Members
Click on each logo to learn more about the institutions participating in the California Plant Rescue at their websites.
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