The parsley fern, Anogramma ascensionis was listed as extinct in 1997 and 2003. It was rediscovered in 2009 but only 6 plants were counted in 2014. Through collaboration with the Royal Botanical Gardens, Kew, fronds with spores were propagated and banked in Kew’s Conservation Biotechnology Unit. A number of specimens were repatriated to Ascension in 2014 where they were grown in the nursery and then reintroduced to the wild in a restoration site close to where the first specimens were rediscovered. Monitoring checks in January 2015 showed that the wild population in that area had increased from the original 10 that were reintroduced to over 175 sporophytes, showing that they are reproducing well in the wild. |