Cycas micronesica at Montgomery Botanical Center.Every year Montgomery Botanical Center conducts multiple expeditions to bring endangered plants into protective cultivation.  In the last year, MBC has performed conservation fieldwork in Belize, Jamaica, Panama, Colombia, and New Zealand.  Please see the Expeditions  page on our website for detailed accounts of our collecting trips and ex situ conservation work.

Montgomery Botanical Center values the work of organizations like the Association of Zoological Horticulture (AZH) and Botanic Gardens Conservation International (BGCI), both of which co-sponsor Plant Conservation Day.

Montgomery’s important plant conservation successes are exemplified in our protection and propagation of Cycas micronesica. Once the most common tree in Guam, Cycas micronesica is now endangered due to the introduction of the Cycad Asian Scale.

This project is one of our most extensive cycad conservation projects to date, resulting in an important ex situ conservation collection at Montgomery Botanical Center.

“Plant conservation is central to the mission Montgomery Botanical Center; protective cultivation is often the only option for conserving rare plant species. Our work with cycads and palms ensures that these living gems can survive for future generations to study and appreciate,” states Executive Director Dr. Patrick Griffith.