ABSTRACT

Introduction The conservation of natural populations of plants includes habitat management (e.g. the use of fire), creation of protected areas (e.g. nature reserves) and by limiting encroachment, overgrazing or drainage. When species or habitats become very scarce or degraded, reintroduction or restoration become possibilities. The conservation of plants within their natural habitat is termed in situ, whilst ex situ refers to plants growing outwith their natural habitat (e.g. in botanic gardens). The two approaches are complementary and, ideally, should be adopted together to create an integrated conservation strategy (Ledec and Goodland, 1992).