Usefulness and economic potential of the rare plants of the United States: a statistical survey
1998
Phillips, O.L. | Meilleur, B.A.
The economic usefulness and potential of endangered and rare plants in the United States was surveyed to assess some of the potential impacts of plant extinction on the world’s largest economy. We analyzed relationships between an existing comprehensive database of U.S. rare plants, and a new database that synthesizes available information on worldwide plant uses and U.S. crop values. While few rare plants are directly useful, nearly 80% of the U.S. plant genera with rare taxa contain at least one useful species. Moreover, two-thirds of the 2949 U.S. rare and endangered taxa are congeneric with cultivated species. Examples of this close relationship between rare plants and their economically significant congenerics were translated into dollar values. For instance, the annual U.S. wholesale farm value of food crop congenerics of rare plants is $9 billion. Since many crops require periodic genetic infusions from close relatives to combat threats from climatic change and disease, or to supply features such as improved nutritional value, we conclude that the threats to the rare wild plants of the U.S. also constitute threats to the future of many contemporary crops.
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