Reintroduction of Tigridiopalma magnifica C. Chen, a Critically Endangered Endemic Plant in China

Abstract

Tigridiopalma magnifica is a rare and endemic perennial herb plant, the only species in the genus Tigridiopalma in in the Melastomatacea family in Yangchun, Xinyi, and Gaozhou cities of China, where it is categorized as Critically Endangered on the national Red List. Twelve locations with less 10,000 individuals of T. magnifica have been identified (1 extinct, 11 extants). T. magnifica only grows in the surface soil on stone walls or rocks under the canopy of secondary forests and plantations and has no specific associated plant species. An efficient propagation in vitro system using seeds and leaves as explants has been established for T. magnifica C. Chen. About 20,000 well-developed root systems were transferred to planting pots containing a mixture of sand, sieved peat, and perlite (1:1:1; v/v) in greenhouse conditions. More than 80.0% of the plantlets survived after 30 days. We reintroduced 10,000 plantlets produced by tissue culture into three reintroduction locations in and outside the current and historical distribution area of this species. After 11 months survival rate was 40–58%, while the survival was higher and plantlet crowns were larger at the location within the original range of the species than at the other two sites.