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Oh, this is tempting…

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Have you ever wondered what it would be like to get credit for the extinction of a species?

The Baker’s Larkspur is an endangered plant whose total population has been reduced from 100 to five by some earth-moving equipment in California. (LINK). Apparently the plant only grows now in ONE PLACE and hasn’t been successfully transplanted elsewhere.

That means that a bottle of Round-Up could get you into the history books. Admittedly you’d probably also get arrested, and maybe even shot at or fire-bombed by some over-stressed eco-freak, but think of the notoriety! You’d be the Lee Harvey Oswald (or at least the Charles Guiteau) of the botanical world!

In other news, statistics fabricated only moments ago show that 99% of botanical preservationists put all of their eggs in the same basket when they shop.

–Howard

12 thoughts on “Oh, this is tempting…”

    1. Re: Humans are part of the environment too. 😀

      And goodness knows human survival hinges on continually erecting developments of $300,000 homes.

      (Yes, I know this particular instance was a road-clearing — but odds are pretty good that that’s what happened to the REST of the plant’s habitat.)

      1. Re: Humans are part of the environment too. 😀

        Eh, it doesn’t matter if our survival hinges on it. It’s part of the new environment that the plants need to adapt to.

        I’m mainly referring to the fact that they are unsuccessful in growing in other areas. Insufficiently adaptable genetics.

        1. Re: Humans are part of the environment too. 😀

          (One cautionary note would be about predators that cause too many of their prey species to go extinct, however.)

      2. Re: Humans are part of the environment too. 😀

        Eh. Millions of species have gone extinct in the past… it’s just plain not worth it to try and preserve every Girreau’s Red-Steckled Plummet. Now, if every owl in the world is in danger of going extinct, that’s something, but it’s absurd to try to preserve every minor variation on a theme–particularly if that species is incapable of spreading.
        That isn’t to say I don’t support conservation efforts, but if one good landslide could wipe out the species, it’s time to write them off.

        1. Re: Humans are part of the environment too. 😀

          Eh, it’s probably fine for them to try and transplant it, but they shouldn’t be passing laws saying that you can’t walk on a certain hillside etc just because of a variation on a certain type of plant that is incapable of adapting to its new environments.

          Perhaps take all the crushed plants and try and preserve their DNA for later cloning.

          1. Re: Humans are part of the environment too. 😀

            I think it was stated that all transplantation attempts have failed.
            Certainly, you don’t kill them off for no reason, but obviously there’s some environmental factor that’s limited this plant to this particular spot–or else killed off its brethren everywhere else.

  5. I can think of a sub-species or two I wouldn’t mind being responsible for the extinction of… developers being one.

    I would really like to be responsible though for the creation of a few more new species. [and I don’t mean just plant hybrids.]

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