Ascension : Ascension Island Conservation Department
Submitted by The Islander (Conservation Office) 25.02.2010 (Article Archived on 11.03.2010)

For the endemic plants project, last week was marked by much anticipated visit by botanist Dr. Alan Gray from the Centre of Ecology & Hydrology in Edinburgh.

Spurges on the edge

For the endemic plants project, last week was marked by much anticipated visit by botanist Dr. Alan Gray from the Centre of Ecology & Hydrology in Edinburgh. Alan has visited Ascension many times since his first visit here in 1998 and he is known by many in the Island. He arrived here this time to maintain weather stations scattered across the Island and to see some of the recent botanical findings on the Island.

I was fortunate enough to spend three days working with Alan. Our first task was to do repair work for a weather station at Windy Corner on Green Mountain and relocate it to the Restoration Area. This will, of course, provide us with detailed information about the growing conditions in this carefully managed site.

With Alan and Stedson we spent one day in one of the remotest populations of the Ascension spurge (Euphorbia origanoides) below the cliff at Wig Hill. This site is very isolated and poorly accessible from any direction. With ropes and metal pegs we managed to get to the population without risk of falling to sea. Once near the plants, moving was easier, and we were able to take a count of the individuals in this population (approaching 2000 plants) as well as collecting seed and DNA. We also tried to look in vain for a species of lacewing which might have been associated with the spurge but which has not been seen for a long time.

This population, due to the fact it can only be visited very rarely, is the last major spurge population from which Alan hasn’t had material for his studies on this endemic species. This has now been fixed, and we look forward to hearing the results of his study. The plants in this site might differ slightly from the plants on the rest of the Island. The site is also remarkable for its breeding seabirds and lack of spurge pests. A few invasive plants have already managed to creep in even here, and these were removed during our visit.

Finally at the end of the week we managed to spend a few hours looking at the most interesting plant findings since Alan’s last visit. Alan seemed very pleased with the results. The Conservation Department is looking forward to welcoming Alan again soon, hopefully next time for a longer visit.

Last week also saw the set up of a mist unit in our nursery near Red Lion, thanks to help by the AIG Works Department. This will allow us to take a small, easily drying Filmy fern (Hymenophyllum) into cultivation. We can now also expect better results at growing the small endemic Xiphopteris fern.

Matti Niissalo

Horticultural Project Officer

Volunteers welcome. Please contact Olivia Renshaw or Natasha Williams. Ascension Island Conservation Department. Georgetown. Tel: 6359. Email:  olivia.renshaw@ascension.gov.ac