Only around 50 individuals remain in the forests between Taipei and Ilan counties in Taiwan. Picea breweriana Brewer spruce . Picea omorika Serbian spruce . Fewer than 1,000 trees remain in the wild, in the Pancic Narodni Nature Reserve in the Tara Mountains. Valued as an ornamental species because it thrives on any soil.
Most botanic gardens can only maintain a tiny sub-sample of a species' genetic diversity.
A recent study at Edinburgh University on specimens of Fitzroya cupressoides in Britain showed that they're almost all genetically identical, probably all propagated from cuttings of a single tree, and so they're all likely to be equally vulnerable to the same pests and diseases. Healthy wild populations maintain a natural pool of genetic variability that help species to survive environmental change and emerging diseases. The BBC is not responsible for the content of other sites listed.