When thinking of tree conservation, sprawling forests generally come to mind. But cities, although covering only 2% of land globally, could harbour a sixth of the world’s tree diversity, according to Australian researchers.

And among the more than 4,700 tree species they counted, one in 10 faces conservation risk in the wild. Six are even thought to be extinct.

“Urban areas represent an overlooked opportunity for plant conservation globally,” says lead author Alessandro Ossola from Macquarie University.

In collaboration with ArbNet, Dr. Jill Hamilton, assistant professor at North Dakota State University, and colleagues at Virginia Tech, University of Vermont and University of Maryland have recruited 18 universities and arboreta nationwide to plant ‘mini’ common garden experiments of black cottonwood (Populus trichocarpa), balsam poplar (P. balsamifera), and their hybrids as part of a new garden-based research network, funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) Plant Genome Research program.

The Red List of Acer: revised and extended, published in September 2020 by Botanic Gardens Conservation International (BGCI), gives the conservation status of all 158 maple or Acer species.

The Himalayan mountains are known as a treasure trove of medicinal plants, many of which have not even been scientifically studied. But one rare tree with proven anti-cancer property is on the verge of extinction, and needs urgent protection.

Areas with low tree coverage and poor soil quality are more likely to experience flood and drought, as the soil is less able to retain excess rainwater writes Jacqueline Skalski-Fouts.

Humanitarian crises have recently been declared in Sudan, Yemen, Niger, Mali, and Somalia—affecting at least 450,000 people—due to flash floods and landslides.

The City of Cape Town has completed South Africa’s first ever tree mapping project. This project identified all the trees within the city, providing clear data on the development of the city’s urban forest.

Cape Town has not quite reached the definition of an urban forest according to the United Nations. Rather than the required continuous 10% of tree canopy cover required, the city currently has 7%.

Researchers have found a way to tackle a disease that threatens thousands of hectares of Alpine forests each year.

Needle bladder rust causes Norway spruce needles to yellow and fall out, causing a significant reduction in growth.

Scientists in Austria have unlocked a natural defence mechanism that the species can use to fend off the potentially fatal pathogen.

The findings have been published in the BMC Genomics journal.

 The world is experiencing a sixth global mass extinction event, and a new paper advocates that botanical gardens are uniquely positioned to preserve the world's plant diversity.

Construction on an exciting new facility which will house 250 years worth of plantlife has begun at The Australian Botanic Garden, Mount Annan.

A host of politicians visited the gardens this week to mark the start of works on the $60 million National Herbarium of NSW, which will feature more than 1.4 million botanical specimens once complete.

The specimen collection is moving to Mount Annan from Sydney as part of the build, which was originally announced in the 2018 budget.

Hawaii is home to a rich variety of unique flora. The National Tropical Botanical Garden (NTBG), headquartered in Kalāheo, Hawaii, is focused on protecting and conserving native plants throughout the tropical regions of the Pacific. With roughly 2,000 acres of land, NTBG’s expansive gardens have become an example of natural biodiversity preservation. Many of these species are found exclusively in Hawaii — some, found in a singular valley.