Plant Conservation & Research

The National Botanic Garden of Wales’ mission statement is to:

Develop a viable world-class national botanic garden dedicated to the research and conservation of biodiversity and its sustainable utilisation, to lifelong learning and to the enjoyment of the visitor.

The conservation of the indigenous plant life and biodiversity of Wales is integral to the aims and goals of NBGW. It is with this in mind that we are involved in several plant conservation and research projects, including the following:

Waun Las National Nature Reserve

The Waun Las National Nature Reserve consists of over 150 hectares of Carmarthenshire countryside that has been managed as an organic farm for the past 10 years. It contains a wide range of valuable habitats including purple moor grass and rush pasture, wet woodland and lowland meadows – priorities for conservation in the UK and the rest of Europe.

NNR A wide range of biodiversity surveys have been carried out in the Nature Reserve, including vascular plants, ferns, mosses, fungi, lichens, birds, mammals (with specific surveys on dormice, bats, badgers and otters), reptiles and amphibians, molluscs, butterflies and moths and aquatic invertebrates. There are now over 1000 species recorded from the NNR with over 10,000 individual records. Using these we can review the effects of 10 years of organic farming and plan our management for the future. A key development is our plan to restore large areas of our grassland habitats to improve their value for biodiversity

More information: Waun Las National Nature Reserve

Welsh Rare Plants Project (WRPP)

This conservation programme works on some of the most endangered plant species in Wales to ensure their long-term survival. Working both at NBGW and in the natural habitat we attempt to provide effective, integrated conservation for these threatened plants. The WRPP is being led by Dr Natasha de Vere (National Botanic Garden of Wales) and Dr Tim Rich (National Museum of Wales), with the different institutions leading on various species.

Additional information: Welsh Rare Plant Project at the National Museum of Wales

Some of the current species we are working on:

Sorbus

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Endemic whitebeams (Sorbus spp.)
We have a large collection of Whitebeam trees and are working to conserve Welsh endemic species. We are collaborating on a PhD project with the National Museum of Wales, the Whitley Wildlife Conservation Trust and Exeter University to investigate the origins and conservation of these rare whitebeams.

Further Reading:

Article from Yr Ardd May 2009

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Wild cotoneaster (Cotoneaster cambricus)
We are working with the Institute of Biological, Environmental and Rural Sciences (IBERS) at Aberystwyth University, and Chester Zoo to investigate the taxonomy and status of this plant; there are only six original plants remaining in the wild. We have used an air-layering propagation technique to collect cuttings of the individuals in the wild to create a collection at NBGW.

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Spreading bellflower (Campanula patula)
We have surveyed the historical sites for this critically endangered plant and provided recommendations on how this species should be conserved in Wales to the Countryside Council for Wales. We are carrying out research to find out the habitat requirements of this species with the Countryside Council for Wales, Plantlife and the Botanical Society of the British Isles.