一种世界上最为珍贵稀有的植物最近在英国植物学家阿普林的关注和呵护下，避免了灭绝的厄运，挽救了这一物种。

    据《每日电讯报》10月17日报道，这种植物被称为阿登高地的雀麦草（Brome of Ardennes），是比利时地方特有物种。这种植物曾被认为难逃灭绝的危险，直到在比利时国家植物园工作的英国植物学家黛夫·阿普林在偶然情况下发现了一些保存完好的植物种子后，雀麦草的命运才得以改变。

    阿普林说：“我很清楚，我看到的可能是现存这一物种最后的一些种子了。其中一部分种子还被送到了英国，这样两国的研究机构就都能设法培育这种植物了。”送到英国的种子是在伦敦植物园所属的千禧年种子银行进行培育。

    报道说，目前世界范围内这种植物的种子还不到3000颗。最近70年来，人们在野外也没有发现过这种植物。因此，雀麦草也是世界上面临灭绝危险最大的物种之一。但现在，在英国和比利时这种珍稀植物的新芽又同时长了出来。对此，英国千禧年种子银行的西蒙·利宁顿表示：“在比利时独立175周年之际，我们设法拯救了这种植物。”

    报道说，这项成功还应该归功于新的欧洲土生种子保护网络，这一网络共有欧洲范围内19个研究机构参与，领导者就是英国伦敦植物园的千禧年种子银行。其目的是联手保护欧洲最为珍贵稀有的物种。

    One of the world's rarest plants has been saved with the help of a seed bank run by Kew Gardens.

    The grass, known as the Brome of Ardennes, Bromus bromoideus, is Belgium's only endemic species and was thought to be extinct until Dave Aplin, a British botanist working at the National Botanic Garden of Belgium, came upon some preserved seeds by accident.

    "It was clear that I was probably looking at the last few seeds of this species in existence, and so some of the seeds were also dispatched to Britain so that both institutes could try to germinate them," he said.

    With fewer than 3,000 seeds left in the world, the brome is one of the most threatened species on the planet. It is thought to have declined due to changing agricultural practices.

    But now new shoots are emerging simultaneously in Britain and Belgium, more than 70 years since the brome was seen in Ardennes.

    "We managed to save it just in time for the 175th anniversary of Belgium's independence," said Simon Linington, the head of curation at the Millennium Seed Bank at Wakehurst Place, West Sussex. This success is one of the first to be attributed to a new European Native Seed Conservation Network, a collaboration of 19 institutes across Europe, headed by Kew's Millennium Seed Bank.

    Their aim is to join forces to protect Europe's most endangered species. By working together they hope to reduce duplication of seed samples and improve plant conservation efforts across the continent.

    Mr Linington said: "This is a good example of how modern seed banking is a vital tool for conservation, and can complement work to conserve plants where they grow in the wild."