Conservationists on St Helena are continuing to work flat out to save what is believed to be the last living Bastard Gumwood tree (Commidendrum rotundifolium) in the world, which will go extinct unless urgent action is taken.

Since last December the rescue team has been trying to obtain seed from the tree, so that new seedlings can be grown. This has involved painstaking hand pollination with paint brushes, and various other techniques aimed at ‘tricking’ the Bastard Gumwood tree into pollinating itself. The first seed was gathered from the tree in January and has now been sown by staff at the Government nursery. We have recently had the exciting news that seedlings have come up, however there is still a long way to go before there are healthy plants to return to the wild.

The rescue attempt is being carried out by staff from the Critical Species Recovery project, the Government’s Conservation Section, the National Trust and volunteers, and has demonstrated the importance of close team working.

The Bastard Gumwood has already come close to extinction in the past, and indeed was thought to have been lost until a single survivor was discovered in 1982 – the first sighting in almost a hundred years. 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.

The plight of the Bastard Gumwood received some welcome publicity in January when visiting BBC journalists covered the story. This included a live radio link-up with Radio Five Live and possibly the first ever non-controversial utterance of the ‘B-word’ on Radio 4!

There was also good news for the species when the UK Government’s scientific advisor JNCC recently awarded St Helena £6,000 to support conservation of the Bastard Gumwood. This money will help to recruit someone to coordinate the recovery project for the species.

Bastard Gumwood in special enclosure.

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