The Key Largo tree cactus, at over 20 feet tall, was once a beautiful inhabitant of the Florida Keys in the US.
The Key Largo tree cactus was initially found growing in the United States in 1992 at a single site.Experts have documented the “first local extinction” of plant species driven by rising sea levels in the United States.
For years, researchers weren’t even aware of the Key Largo tree cactus’ existence in the US. It was first confused for its near relative, the Key tree cactus (In 2019, Alan Franck, herbarium collection manager at the Florida Museum of Natural History, concluded that the Key Largo population was the only case of this species ever reported in the US. By the time of this confirmation, Fairchild had already begun monitoring tree cactus populations in the region.
“In 2011, we started seeing saltwater flooding from king tides in the area,” said James Lange, study co-author and a research botanist at Fairchild.
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