I pretty much agree with what has been stated by others, habitat preservation is undoubtedly the best way to preserve a species. It doesn't exist in a vacuum and all its pollinators and other species it interacts with are thus also protected. However this is not always an option with an ever increasing human population and the demands that creates for agricultural and urban land growth, plus now we have to factor in climate change in many of these areas, such as in the Brazilian rainforests which sort of create their own climate by transpiring so much that they make their own rain clouds, but as vast swathes are burned this aspect of the climate changes for the worse for the remnant forest patches left behind. So then the next best options are to preserve seeds in seed banks when practical (often not for species with fleshy seeds), and to have some genetic material of the species represented in cultivation. True, the selection pressures change immediately when a plant is brought into cultivation and new generations are raised from seed, but no species is ever static, the selection pressures in nature also change as abiotic and sometimes biotic factors change over the long term anyway. We can never go back to what once was, too much habitat damage and transfer of species between continents has occurred, but by cultivating species that are extinct or nearing extinction in the wild from legitimately collected seeds or nursery propagated plants, each of us can do a small part in our lives of helping to preserve some of what is being lost, even if it is not quite the same as what once was in terms of genetic variation. Also by encouraging the production of plants for the horticultural trade from seed rather than from wild collected plants (except in areas where they are under immediate threat from development, but even then they could form the basis of a seed producing population in cultivation) in developing countries might take some of the p ressure off of certain species (especially orchids) that are purposely targeted by collectors even when they are in "safe" habitats. Ernie DeMarie Z7 that might become Z6 this winter depending on how low it goes Sunday night. Grateful for the good snow cover that protects anything not above a foot or two tall.