The second conference of the Global Partnership for Plant Conservation (GPPC) was organized by the GPPC, in association with the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity (SCBD) and Botanic Gardens Conservation International (BGCI). This general meeting was hosted by the Missouri Botanical Garden and was held 5–7 July 2011, in St. Louis, Missouri.

The Missouri Botanical Garden (MBG) is supporting community-based conservation at 11 priority areas for plant conservation in Madagascar. Our strategy for conserving these sites integrates a range of activities that include research and monitoring, the creation and policing of local rules to enable the sustainable use of natural resources, environmental education, the provision of alternatives to the unsustainable over-exploitation of natural resources, poverty alleviation, and the restoration of degraded ecosystems. While this approach is successfully conserving biodiversity in the short term and at local scales, over a longer time period these reserves will become increasingly threatened by a rapidly growing human population whose livelihood is dependent on natural resources that will become increasingly rare outside of protected natural areas. Extensive ecological restoration of landscapes surrounding reserves is a prerequisite in Madagascar for the long-term conservation of these protected areas and will thus be an essential part of a national effort to achieve Target 4 of the Global Strategy for Plant Conservation (GSPC). Here, we describe our current restoration program, analyze its strengths and weaknesses, and consider the threats and opportunities relating to restoration in Madagascar. This information is used to identify key attributes for a proposed up-scaled restoration initiative that can serve to develop more sophisticated methods, strengthen expertise through training, and demonstrate the power of ecological restoration for achieving long-term, sustainable conservation outcomes, as called for by the GSPC.

Politically and botanically diverse, the Caribbean region is a biodiversity hotspot. Current estimates for seed plant species richness are nearly 11,000 indigenous taxa, of which approximately 72% are endemic to the region. Politically, the region comprises independent countries as well as overseas territories and countries of the European Union member states and the United States. Success in implementing the 2010 targets of the Global Strategy for Plant Conservation (GSPC) across the region was mixed, and a lack of capacity was consistently cited as a major impediment to full implementation. Several regional initiatives promote coordinated conservation activities and disseminate key information needed for GSPC implementation, including the Caribbean Botanic Gardens for Conservation, whose last meeting in Cuba identified capacity gaps needed for achieving GSPC success. This echoed an earlier regional GSPC workshop held in Montserrat and coordinated by Royal Botanic Gardens Kew and the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity (SCBD). RBG Kew has an active regional training program and is working with international partners to respond to needs identified locally. This coordinated approach, together with the development of the GSPC Toolkit, can provide a roadmap to meet the challenges of building capacity to achieve the revised 2020 targets in this biodiverse region.

The exceptional botanical wealth of southern Africa has been known internationally since the early 17th century. However, it is only during the past 25 years that a succession of regional floristic checklists has been published, culminating in one for southern Africa (Namibia, Botswana, Swaziland, Lesotho, and South Africa) (Germishuizen & Meyer, 2003) and another enhanced with primary biological information such as growth form, plant height, and altitudinal range occurrence for South Africa (Germishuizen et al., 2006). These printed products (Germishuizen & Meyer, 2003; Germishuizen et al., 2006) delivered floristic checklists for southern and South Africa, respectively, on time for achieving Target 1 of the 2010 Global Strategy for Plant Conservation (GSPC). These works reflected the cumulative work of several generations of taxonomists, collectors, recorders, and databasers and were based on extensive regional herbarium collections. Two additional goals are now required for the first 2020 GSPC Target, namely adding descriptive and other Flora-style information, and disseminating such information electronically.

How much progress has North America made toward the Global Strategy for Plant Conservation (GSPC) Target 8 of at least 75% of threatened plant species in accessible ex situ collections by 2020? To answer this, the North American Collections Assessment was carried out in 2010. More than 200 botanical and conservation institutions in the United States, Canada, and Mexico contributed taxa lists to the Botanic Gardens Conservation International's (BGCI) online PlantSearch database for this assessment. By cross-referencing collection information with globally threatened species lists from the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN), NatureServe, and Mexico's Red List, we found that approximately 35% of North America's nearly 5000 most threatened taxa are currently in ex situ collections. This marks considerable progress toward the GSPC Target 8, but there is clearly much more to do. Future priorities include collaboratively and strategically increasing threatened species representation in collections and assessing genetic diversity among collections by comparing accession-level data.

Several international treaties contain provisions to regulate and reduce negative impacts of international trade on endangered plant species. Focusing on the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) and the Global Strategy for Plant Conservation (GSPC) of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), this paper aims to elaborate existing and potential linkages between provisions and activities of these conventions. Based on an evaluation of CITES documentation, fields of potential synergies and/or joint activities between CITES and the GSPC are indicated.

Despite the fundamental role plant science plays in addressing global environmental issues, a recent survey of nearly 1600 members of the botanical community in the United States revealed a severe shortage in the nation's botanical capacity or resource capabilities that support the advancement of plant science. The survey and a subsequent published report detailed shortages of botanists at government agencies, a wave of upcoming retirements, and an alarming decline in botanical degree programs and course offerings at the nation's colleges and universities. Private sector organizations are filling gaps in botanical capacity created by declines in academic and government sectors. While this survey was carried out in the United States, its results are internationally relevant and applicable. These declines occur as the need for botanical capacity increases globally to address important plant conservation needs. Recognizing the critical situation facing the world's flora, the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) adopted the Global Strategy for Plant Conservation (GSPC) to halt the continuing loss of plant diversity. Our results illustrate the necessity of working across public and private sectors to ensure that botanical capacity is valued, supported, and utilized to achieve all 16 targets of the GSPC by 2020.

The status and trends of issues related to the conservation of orchids native to the United States, Canada, and Greenland are considered. We focus on nine of the 16 Targets of the Global Strategy for Plant Conservation (GSPC). The first two targets, which all other targets rely upon, appear to have been adequately achieved, in addition to Target 11. Limited progress has been made on six other GSPC targets. Three case studies of efforts to conserve the native threatened orchids, Platanthera leucophaea (Nutt.) Lindl., Isotria medeoloides (Pursh) Raf., and Tolumnia bahamensis (Nash) Braem, are presented to demonstrate the difficulties as well as the issues associated with effective conservation. We describe our efforts to establish an international program to conserve all native orchids in the United States and Canada. The North American Orchid Conservation Center (NAOCC) is an internationally focused effort that is based on public-private partnerships. The goal of NAOCC is to conserve the genetic diversity of all native orchids through efforts to develop an international collection of seeds and orchid fungi. The NAOCC also focuses on the cultivation of all native orchids in an international network of botanic gardens, and they partner with private and public landowners to develop techniques to conserve and restore all native orchid species.

Target 2 of the 2020 Global Strategy for Plant Conservation (GSPC) calls for a comprehensive list of the world's threatened plant species. The lack of such a list is one of the greatest impediments to protecting the full complement of the world's plant species, and work to achieve this has been slow. An efficient system for identifying those species that are at risk of extinction could help to achieve this goal in a timeframe sensitive to today's conservation needs. Two systems that efficiently use available data to assess conservation status were tested against a provisional International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN) Red List analysis to evaluate the native seed plant species of Puerto Rico. It was demonstrated that both systems efficiently identify species at risk, which is a step toward both the GSPC Target 2 and a more comprehensive IUCN Red List for plants. Both systems were effective at identifying plant species at risk, with the New York analysis identifying 98% and the Smithsonian analysis 85% of the plant species considered Threatened in the IUCN Red List. Both analyses to some extent overestimated those plants at risk, but the species identified are all range restricted and, thus, of some conservation interest.

The aim of this paper is to identify factors that might assist implementation of Target 1 for the Global Strategy for Plant Conservation (GSPC) for 2020: “an online flora of all known plants.” This is done by considering progress in large regional floras to date and production of The Plant List online, in conjunction with lessons learned from the first 10 years of GSPC implementation. If the online flora is to support GSPC implementation, then it has to be able to support conservation and sustainable-use projects at national and local levels in addition to linking to information concerning global plant diversity. This will require strong partnerships and collaborations across the botanical community. Measurement of progress will help identify gaps and direct efforts, and indicators for measuring progress are suggested.

For the majority of plant species of conservation concern, seed banking and traditional propagation methods are the most efficient ways of meeting the ex situ and recovery conservation goals of Global Strategy for Plant Conservation (GSPC) Target 8. However, there are estimated to be 5000 or more endangered species for which these methods will not be adequate conservation tools. These “exceptional” species are those with recalcitrant seeds or those that produce few or no seeds. In vitro methods can provide alternative procedures for propagating and preserving germplasm in the long term for these species. Research at the Center for Conservation and Research of Endangered Wildlife (CREW) with several U.S. endangered species has shown the potential of these methods. In vitro propagation can provide plants for reintroduction and research when traditional propagation methods are not adequate. Phytotissue banking can be used for long-term ex situ conservation when seed or embryo banking is not possible. In vitro methods are also needed for recovery when embryo banking of recalcitrant seeds is possible. The full implementation of in vitro methods is constrained by information, scientific, and economic challenges, but the need for its use in meeting the needs of exceptional species should provide impetus for overcoming these challenges and making these methods an integral part of an overall ex situ conservation strategy.

South Africa has the world's richest temperate flora, with 20,456 indigenous vascular plant taxa recorded. With the current estimate of the global flora at 379,881 taxa, 5% of the world's plant diversity is represented within South African borders. Between 2004 and 2008, South African botanists completed a comprehensive assessment of the status of the South African flora using the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN) Red List categories and criteria, version 3.1. South Africa is the first floristically megadiverse country to fully assess the status of its entire flora and to achieve Target 2 of the Global Strategy for Plant Conservation (GSPC): “[a]n assessment of the conservation status of all known plant species, as far as possible, to guide conservation action.” Herein, we discuss the critical success factors that allowed an assessment of such a megadiverse flora within five years. Establishing a centralized team of ecologists to develop Red Lists, collaborating with a wide range of botanical experts, streamlining the assessment process via automation, and establishing a data management system that served local conservation needs were crucial to the success of the project. Utilizing the IUCN categories and criteria proved to be, and is suggested as, the most cost-effective measure for other megadiverse countries wanting to achieve Target 2. Quantitative assessments can be done with minimal data, and comprehensive assessments of all known taxa ensure conservation attention for a greater proportion of a flora. The example of South Africa demonstrates that conservation assessments can be done relatively cheaply in developing megadiverse countries (less than $30 per taxon for South Africa). As megadiverse countries have high numbers of endemic plant taxa, it is well worth the investment by IUCN and conservation donors to support continued and future assessment projects.

Hawai‘i has a unique natural history, ideal for studying the mechanisms of evolution. With over 90% endemism in its native flora of 1300 species, over half are threatened with extinction. This immense challenge requires working collaboratively, effectively, and efficiently. Despite extensive conservation activity, we do not have a unified strategy, and leaders in Hawaiian conservation are discussing the creation of a Hawai‘i Strategy for Plant Conservation (HSPC) based on the Global Strategy for Plant Conservation (GSPC) targets. Here we analyze the effectiveness of the conservation work taking place in Hawai‘i through the lens of the GSPC Targets 1 to 3 that include: (1) the establishment of an online flora of all known plants; (2) the assessment of the conservation status of all known plant species; and (3) the development and sharing of research and methodology related to on-the-ground conservation.

Taxonomic keys, illustrations, descriptions, synonymy, distribution maps, and an index to collectors' names and numbers are given for the Neotropical taxa belonging to Elaphoglossum Schott ex J. Sm. sect. Squamipedia Mickel & Atehortúa. Eighteen taxa are recognized herein, consisting of 16 species, with one of the species, E. peltatum (Sw.) Urb., having three forms. Three new species are described: E. anthracinum A. Vasco, Mickel & R. C. Moran, E. blepharis A. Vasco, Mickel & R. C. Moran, and E. rhomboideum A. Vasco, Mickel & R. C. Moran. The following name is lectotypified: Acrostichum flabellatum Humb. & Bonpl. ex Willd. var. sphenophyllum Kunze. Four species are atypical in the genus by having divided laminae: E. colombianum (Maxon) Mickel and E. moorei (E. Britton) Christ have pinnately divided laminae, E. peltatum (Sw.) Urb. has isodichotomously divided laminae, and E. tripartitum (Hook. & Grev.) Mickel has ternately divided laminae. The Neotropical species of the section can usually be distinguished from other species of Elaphoglossum by long-creeping, green rhizomes; thin, translucent, light orange or brown rhizome scales; distichous leaves; paired peglike aerophores on each side of the rhizome slightly proximal to the petiole bases; a lack of phyllopodia; leaves that are typically < 15 cm long; and echinulate spores. One species, E. nidiforme Mickel, is atypical by its large size and short-creeping rhizomes but is included here in Elaphoglossum sect. Squamipedia based on previous molecular phylogenetic analyses. All Neotropical species of Elaphoglossum sect. Squamipedia are epiphytes, usually in middle- to high-elevation forests. The section is most diverse in the Andes from Colombia to Bolivia, where 17 taxa occur.

Se presentan una clave, ilustraciones, descripciones, sinonimia, mapas de distribución y un índice de colectores por apellidos y números de colección para los taxones neotropicales pertenecientes a Elaphoglossum Schott ex J. Sm. sección Squamipedia Mickel & Atehortúa. De esta sección se reconocen 18 taxones que representan 16 especies. Dentro de una de las especies E. peltatum (Sw.) Urb., se reconocen tres formas. Se describen tres nuevas especies: E. anthracinum A. Vasco, Mickel & R. C. Moran, E. blepharis A. Vasco, Mickel & R. C. Moran y E. rhomboideum A. Vasco, Mickel & R. C. Moran. Se lectotipifica el nombre Acrostichum flabellatum Humb. & Bonpl. ex Willd. var. sphenophyllum Kunze. Cuatro de las especies dentro de la sección son atípicas en el género por tener láminas divididas: E. colombianum (Maxon) Mickel y E. moorei (E. Britton) Christ las tienen pinnadamente divididas, E. peltatum (Sw.) Urb. dicotómicamente divididas y E. tripartitum (Hook. & Grev.) Mickel ternadamente divididas. Las especies neotropicales de la sección usualmente pueden distinguirse de otras especies de Elaphoglossum por sus rizomas verdes largamente rastreros, escamas del rizoma delgadas y translucidas de color pajizo, marrón o naranja claro, hojas dísticas, aeróforos en forma de gancho a cada lado del rizoma casi proximales a la base del peciolo, filopodios ausentes, hojas típicamente menores a los 15 cm de largo y esporas equinuladas. Una especie, E. nidiforme Mickel, presenta una morfología atípica con hojas bastantes más largas y rizomas cortamente rastreros, sin embargo es incluida en el presente trabajo debido a que los análisis filogenéticos moleculares la ubican dentro de Elaphoglossum sección Squamipedia. Todas las especies neotropicales de Elaphoglossum sección Squamipedia son epífitas usualmente en bosques montanos o montano-altos. La sección es más diversa en los Andes, desde