The National Trust and others are currently working flat out to save what they believe could be the last living Bastard Gumwood tree (Commidendrum rotundifolium) in the world, which will go extinct unless urgent action is taken. The last tree is showing signs of old age, and might not survive for many more flowering seasons.
The rescue team is hoping to obtain seed from the tree, so that new seedlings can be grown. However this is not easy. The Bastard Gumwood is reluctant to pollinate itself, and because there are no other individuals in existence, it needs human help. Volunteers are visiting the tree every day and hand pollinating it using tiny paintbrushes. To prevent the tree from ‘cross-pollinating’ with its close relative the False Gumwood, which grows nearby, a special tent has been constructed around it to prevent insects from getting in. If cross-pollination occurs then the seed will not be pure and cannot be used. 
The rescue attempt is being carried out by ANRD, the National Trust, staff from the Critical Species Recovery project and volunteers from the Nature Conservation Group. Dr Rebecca Cairns-Wicks, President of the Trust and on the rescue team, says: “In 2003 we witnessed the extinction of the St Helena Olive, a tragic loss to St Helena and the world that we hoped would never be repeated again. Now as we begin the New Year of 2010 we are faced with the possibility that another unique St Helena endemic might slip into extinction. We are all working to keep the tree healthy and secure seed upon which the future of this species will depend. Even if we are successful it is going to take years of hard work to pull this species back from the brink of extinction”.
The Bastard Gumwood has already come close to extinction in the past, and indeed was thought to have been lost until Stedson Stroud and George Benjamin discovered a single survivor on cliffs at Horse Pasture in 1982 – the first sighting since the 1890s. The tree died a few years later, but a few seed were successfully germinated and several plants reared. Unfortunately most of the survivors were impure crosses with the False Gumwood.
‘It’s very important for the island that we do everything we can to save the last Bastard Gumwood tree,’ says National Trust Director Jamie Roberts. ‘Many of the tourists who come to St Helena want to see the island’s unique wildlife. Another extinction would be very bad publicity for the island’.
Despite its name, the Bastard Gumwood is a pure and ancient species which may once have covered the lower slopes of St. Helena. It is one of four species which makes up the endemic gumwoods of St Helena (the others are the Scrubwood, Gumwood and the False Gumwood). These species are all found nowhere else in the world. The False Gumwood is also on the Critically Endangered list with only eight trees left in the wild. The Gumwood, which is the national tree of St Helena, is being conserved by the National Trust at the Millennium Forest, where over eight thousand Gumwood trees have been planted since 2000. The key wild site for the tree is at Peak Dale, where the Trust, ANRD and others have recently been carrying out site improvement works.
Picture left: Bastard Gumwood in a protective cage |
