Editing Botanical garden (section)

==== Plant conservation ====

Plant conservation and the heritage value of exceptional historic landscapes were treated with a growing sense of urgency through the 20th century. Specialist gardens were sometimes given a separate or adjoining site, to display native and indigenous plants.<ref name=Hux92375/> In the 1970s, gardens became focused on plant conservation. The Botanic Gardens Conservation Secretariat was established by the [[IUCN]] and the [[World Conservation Union]] in 1987 with the aim of coordinating the plant conservation efforts of botanical gardens around the world. It maintains a database of rare and endangered species in botanical gardens' living collections. Many gardens hold [[ex situ conservation|''ex situ'' conservation]] collections that preserve [[genetic variation]]. These may be held as seeds dried and stored at low temperature, or in tissue culture (such as the Kew [[Millennium Seedbank]]); as living plants, including those that are of special horticultural, historical or scientific interest (such as those in the [[National Plant Collection]] in the United Kingdom); or by managing and preserving areas of natural vegetation. Collections are often held and cultivated with the intention of [[reintroduction]] to their original habitats.<ref>See {{Harvnb|Simmons|Beyer|Brandham|Lucas|1976}}</ref>