A time capsule of green gems
Those seeking to see a living specimen of Yellowstone National Park’s most rare species, Yellowstone sand verbena, are sworn to secrecy. Its location is closely guarded, and those who visit are asked not to discuss its exact whereabouts.
The little-known, delicate flowering plant grows on a sandy patch of land, less than 1.5 acres, on the shores of Yellowstone Lake. It’s been theorized that what makes the nation’s premiere park popular — its volcanic nature — is why the Yellowstone sand verbena ( Abronia ammophila) grows only within the park’s boundaries. It’s one of only three endemic plants in Yellowstone — plants that only grow in the park and nowhere else.
Past records of the plant show its decline. The sand verbena is in danger of extinction due to trampling — human traffic — and has been extirpated from other areas of the park that see foot traffic, such as Fishing Bridge.
How important are little-known plants such as sand verbena? Besides providing food and shelter to pollinators and animals, the National Library of Medicine reports the sources of many new drugs and active ingredients of medicines are derived from plants.
It’s highly possible that, someday, the only proof of the existence of this variety of sand verbena will be kept in a vault-like storage facility at the Yellowstone Herbarium, part of the Heritage and Research Center in Gardiner, Mont. Very few of the park’s millions of visitors even know of the existence of the research centre, let alone the herbarium.
While the centre is open to the public, the 19,000 fragile presses (including plant and fungi) of the herbarium are only available for research and viewing under the watchful eyes of the centre director — its lone employee.
Heidi Anderson has stood in a vigilant watch of not only the herbarium collection, but possibly the park’s biggest secret for the past 15 years. And she wants to share.
“I share my love for plants in hopes of creating more lovers of the park’s plants,” she said. “People only take care of things they know and love.”
Herbaria have been described as a morgue for plants. Each plant, every tiny detail, must be pressed, dried and glued to acid-free paper before being stored.
“Herbaria are libraries, and like libraries of books, each specimen in a herbarium tells a story. The story includes characters, a place and a time. The plot line revolves around change — in land use, in climate, in human ingenuity, from the time of collection until now,” wrote Burrell (Ernie) Nelson, curator of the Rocky Mountain herbarium at the University of Wyoming, in describing his work.
Anderson’s work is laborious and specimens, which take a great deal of time to prepare, are backing up.
An average of only 10 groups per year sign up to tour the collection in the out-of-the-way public research facility. “Most people don’t know this place exists,” she said. Now the collections and research centres are living time capsules of what is here now and what was once here. Like a seed bank, they hold the answers to questions about the past and future of the world’s plant life.
“Life would end without plants,” she said.