Czech scientists launch international project to save critically endangered “glacial” plant
Czech scientists have launched an international project to save the critically endangered Jurinea cyanoides, a plant that is considered to be a remnant of the Ice Age. It can still be found in a few remaining locations in the Czech Republic and Germany, and is still present in Ukraine. Botanists from all three countries are collaborating on the project, called LIFE for Jurinea.
The critically endangered Jurinea cyanoides is a flower with purplish-pink blooms resembling cornflowers or small thistles, with woolly, silver-grey leaf undersides. Commonly known as “Sand Jurinea” this rare perennial plant is considered a glacial and post-glacial relic in Central Europe. It migrated to the region during the Ice Age in cold-steppe environments, leaving isolated populations in river valleys and sandy dunes as the climate warmed.
It has largely disappeared from this territory due to ongoing climate change and inappropriate land management.
According to Hana Pánková of the Institute of Botany of the Czech Academy of Sciences, today Central European occurrences are rare, with isolated incidences only in Germany and the Czech Republic.
“In the Czech Republic you will only find the Jurinea in two locations –in protected areas along the river Elbe. Previously, its incidence was reported at around forty sites. Now there are literally just a few dozen of these plants left. Mostly this is due to agricultural practices and the expansion of human habitation.“
An international team of experts from Czechia, Germany and Ukraine aims to reintroduce the plant to seven sites in the Czech Republic and 22 in Germany, mainly in the Elbe lowlands and Saxony-Anhalt.
The effort will require ten years of intensive work and will involve restoring and protecting the plant’s natural environment in the selected areas. Experts plan to restore a rare sand dune habitat, remove shrubs and invasive species, introduce regular grazing, and strip away turf to create bare sandy areas without vegetation.
Karel Kříž of the Czech Union for Nature Conservation, which will also be involved in the effort, says it will need to be preceded by extensive research into genetics
“The Jurinea has practically been wiped out in this country. So we first need to establish through genetic analyses whether it would be suitable to bring populations here from Germany, possibly from Ukraine, and which ones, or perhaps a mixture. We still don't know. Once the genetic analyses have been completed, the plan is to cultivate the plants and return them to their original habitats,” Kříž told Czech Radio.
The ten-year project also aims to support pollinating insects and involve the public through citizen science and educational activities, the Institute of Botany said in a press release.
