The Franciscan Manzanita, long thought to be extinct in the wild, has also been called “the ivory-billed woodpecker of the plant world” and “the blessed one.” The story of its rediscovery, by a conservation biologist who spotted the survivor while driving past it at 50mph, just prior to highway construction work that would have destroyed it, is told in the April 12, 2010 issue of High Country News, by Aleta George. Today, the Manzanita lives on, in a secure and undisclosed location in the Presidio. It’s an amazing tale of fortuitous discovery and horticultural salvation, so we nominate the Franciscan Manzanita as today’s Endangered All-Star.
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