Wild Palm to Become Extinct within Months
A 10 meter palm tree species called Corypha taliera is about to become extinct in the wild.
The world’s last known wild Corypha taliera has begun to flower. Unfortunately for this species, flowering usually causes the plant’s death.
The plant was discovered in the 1950s growing in the scrub jungle on the Dhaka University campus, Bangladesh. It was then identified by local scientist Shamal Kumar Basu and subsequently protected in what became the enclosure of the residential quarters of the Pro Vice-Chancellor.
Attempting to Cultivate the Plant’s Seeds
Professor Md Abul Hasan, chairman of the botany department at Dhaka University, said that they would collect seeds of the dying plant and attempt to cultivate them.
But he was not optimistic.
“We cannot say whether it would be possible to produce the plant in botanical gardens,” he said.
Red List Classification
Although this palm is the last known Corypha taliera growing in the wild, the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN) has already classified the plant on its Red List, as being “extinct in the wild”. This is because molecular work - which is required to confirm the identification - still hasn’t been taken out on the plant. Until molecular work is carried out, they will only say that this plant has been “tentatively identified”.
Also, IUCN say that its unclear about whether or not the specimen originated from cultivated material. They also mention that the plant is effectively in a “cultivated state”, and therefore probably wouldn’t count towards the “wild” classification.
Although not in the wild, Corypha taliera specimens are currently growing in the Indian Botanic Garden and the Fairchild Tropical Garden in Florida, USA. Because these aren’t growing in the natural environment, they don’t count for “wild” plants hence the IUCN classification “Extinct in the Wild”.
Previous Specimen
No other specimen of this monocarpic palm tree has been found in the wild in almost 30 years. In 1979, a Corypha taliera, located in a village near Shantiniketan of West Bengal, had begun flowering, and the locals fearing that it was a “ghost palmyra tree” - due to its horn-like flowers - chopped it down. The seeds of that specimen could not be saved.
Tags: extinction, trees
