Capital botanic garden helps save endangered conifer

THEY are among the tallest and oldest trees in the world, with some living specimens having stood proudly for over 3600 years, since the construction of Stonehenge.

Now Scottish botanists are playing a crucial role in protecting the remarkable conifer Fitzroya cupressoides from extinction.

Native to southern Chile and Argentina, the trees were still plentiful in the 1830s when come across by Robert Fitzroy, captain of the famed survey ship HMS Beagle and founder of the Met Office.

Charles Darwin, the naturalist on board the Beagle, recorded examples over 60 metres tall and 12.6m across.

With the timber highly prized, centuries of logging has resulted in Fitzroya being classified as endangered, now present in only a fraction of its historic areas.

DNA analysis from numerous Fitzroyas dating back to the introduction of the species to Britain by Scottish horticulturalists in 1849 has revealed they were all propagated from a single tree. As a result, they do not contain the genetic diversity needed to adapt and survive.

Martin Gardner, co-ordinator of the International Conifer Conservation Programme at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, has spent over 25 years collecting seeds of the tree from Chile, and a network of “safe sites” has now been established in the UK as a safety net to prevent extinction.

As part of the network of protected sites, around 400 Fitzroyas have been planted in some 170 locations – including Ampton Hall in Suffolk, Fitzroy’s birthplace, and at Down House in Kent, the family home of Darwin.

Scottish sites include the Botanic Gardens in Edinburgh, as well as the grounds of Scone Palace and Glasgow’s Botanic Garden, as well as private estates and public gardens.

UK Fitzroyas can now be used to restore the species to Chilean forests, if needed.

Mr Gardner said: “The Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh has played a major role. When we first started working on this, every UK tree in cultivation was a clone – and they were all female, so they wouldn’t have been much use for conservation.

“Now we have at least 100 different genetic types in cultivation so there is diversity and we are in a better position if some of those trees are needed for conservation work.”