Raising the living dead

Abstract

‘Living dead’ is a term biologists have begun to use to describe those species that are not expected to escape extinction without significant human intervention (Janzen, 2001), such as captive breeding or cultivation. While the number of taxa that fall into this category continues to increase, this paper reports on a species that may beat the odds and escape its fate, after decades of cultivation at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. An account of the historical facts that led to the recovery of the species in question, Ramosmania rodriguesii, and the latest update regarding its current situation are provided along with cultivation notes.