Rare wild plants of potential or current economic importance in Canada — a list of priorities

Abstract

A priorization system based on dollar value of plant, degree of relationship to economic genotype, and rarity status was applied to rare plants in Canada. This resulted in priorization of 56 taxa, approximately 1% of wild plants of Canada. Most of these taxa are native species, but a few are infraspecific taxa, and some are introduced. Most of the priorized taxa are plants of the Carolinian region of extreme southern Ontario, which is part of the Mixedwood Plains Ecozone. The provinces with the highest numbers were Ontario with 38, British Columbia with 9, Quebec with 8 and Manitoba with 7. Crops, crop relatives and forages accounted for 38 of the taxa. Twelve were plants providing ingredients for commercial drug products or health foods. Nine were sources of wood. Five were plants used in landscape gardening, land reclamation or erosion control. Native berry producing plants, i.e. relatives of clonal crops for which Canada contains significant germplasm on a world scale, were the largest economic group with 18 taxa. Twenty-six of the priorized plants were herbs, 17 were shrubs and 13 were trees. The genera Amelanchier and Linum were the largest taxonomic groups, each with four taxa. The list and related geographic data can be used to orient monitoring and management, to select and acquire material for ex situ protection, and to select and priorize sites for in situ protection. Key words: Germplasm, protection, rare plants, crops, pharmaceuticals, ornamentals, medicinal plants