Post by Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew

🌿 Today marks the first #WorldMagnoliaDay, celebrating one of the world’s most ancient and iconic groups of flowering plants. Magnolias are loved for their spectacular blooms, including across Kew’s living collections. But in the wild, many species face serious threats. On Hispaniola, the Caribbean island shared by the Dominican Republic and Haiti, around 34% of plant species are found nowhere else on Earth. Among them are three endemic magnolias - Magnolia domingensis, Magnolia hamorii and Magnolia pallescens - which form part of the island’s Tropical Montane Cloud Forests. Through the Global Tree Seed Bank Unlocked Programme, funded by the Garfield Weston Foundation, Kew’s Millennium Seed Bank Partnership team is working with partners in the Dominican Republic to conserve these remarkable trees, restore degraded cloud forests and strengthen ecosystem resilience. Together with local partners including Jardín Botánico Nacional Dr Rafael M. Moscoso, Fundación Progressio and Fundación Moscoso Puello, the project is helping to safeguard Hispaniola’s unique magnolia species for the future. Find out more about Kew’s work with partners to conserve the forgotten magnolia forests of Hispaniola: https://ow.ly/gO9q50Z7Wzw #WorldMagnoliaDay #PlantConservation #Magnolia #Biodiversity #CloudForests #KewScience