The press service of the Kuril Nature Reserve reported that scientists have made the first attempt to reintroduce the serrated chloranthus to Kunashir Island and have planted it in the wild. This island is home to the two known locations of this rare plant in Russia. It is found nowhere else in the country.
Four years ago, reserve staff obtained permission to collect rhizomes of the chloranthus to create a backup population in the reserve's rare plant nursery. This population has now grown significantly, blooming and fruiting abundantly. In November of this year, specialists transplanted rhizomes with eight sprouts from the nursery to the slope of Valentina Creek near the thermal springs within the reserve's protected zone. This site most closely matches the conditions in which chloranthus grows in the wild.
It will only be possible to determine whether the transplanted rhizomes have taken root next summer. Scientists have placed the site under special monitoring.
The serrated chloranthus is listed in the Red Books of Russia and Sakhalin Oblast as endangered. The main range of this plant is in China, Korea, and Japan. In Russia, it grows only on Kunashir, but the population on the island is still small.
Chloranthus requires many conditions for growth, including sufficiently warm soil. Currently, only two locations on Kunashir are known where this plant can be found in the wild: near Stolbovsky thermal springs and near Tretyakovsky thermal springs. Both sites are located on slopes, so chloranthus is threatened by soil erosion. In 2016, a landslide occurred on one slope, leading to the death of part of the population.
