Cuban specialists save a rare plant from extinction

HAVANA, Cuba, Apr 19 (ACN) Specialists and workers of the Alturas de Banao Ecological Reserve, located 20 kilometers south of this Santi Spiritus city, saved from extinction the Tabernaemontana apoda, an endemic specie of the province of Sancti Spíritus and one of the five most threatened in Cuba.

Oliver Valle Hernández, the principal conservation specialist at the Sancti Spíritus Norte Base Business Unit of the National Company for the Protection of Flora and Fauna, told Cuban News Agency that this is the main achievement of the management project of threatened species implemented for more than a decade in the area.

The expert meant that the population of Tabernaemontana apoda, popularly known as hen's egg and exclusive of the province of Sancti Spiritus, was so scarce that it could be totally lost, especially because of its marked presence in areas of intensive use for agriculture and cattle rising.

A careful and precise work of monitoring and reproducing the seeds and seedlings of this species of flora, made it possible to create plantations in the hills of Banao, from where it begins its extension by plots suitable for its development, underlined Valle Hernández.

He pointed out that the group responsible for the floristic activity in the Ecological Reserve also works on the rescue of the tree known as buttercup (Magnolia cubensis), on the savin (podocarpus angustifolius) and on the walnut tree of the country (jungla insularis), all plants in danger of extinction and that are among the 50 most threatened in the country.

Likewise, the specialist pointed out that, contrary to the hen's egg, these last three species have a greater presence in other areas of the territory, which may slow down their possible disappearance.

The main focus is on buttercup, a plant that does not have natural regeneration and more complex reproduction, argued the specialist, who is a member of the technical teams leading the projects to eliminate or control invasive species and silvicultural treatment of forests, with important results in the forested development of this place.

The Alturas de Banao Ecological Reserve is a protected area of national significance due to its high degree of conservation, with more than six thousand hectares for its development.