To find out more about the incredible world of rare plants, we reached out to Marc Hachadourian, the Director Of Glasshouse Horticulture and Senior Curator Of Orchids at The New York Botanical Garden who shared some very interesting insights.

“Even after nearly 30 years of study and practice in horticulture I am always learning about new plants and encountering species or varieties I did not even know existed,” Hachadourian told us. “Whether in my travels abroad to see plants in their natural habitats or visiting other botanical gardens, there are always new plants that I have never seen before.”

For Hachadourian, “one of the most wonderful aspects of working with plants is this thrill of discovering and learning something new or exciting. Even though I regularly help people identify plants there are still many plants out there I don’t know.” He added that sometimes it takes a significant amount of time researching, consulting with other experts, and digging through images and texts to get an identification for an unknown plant.

 The Director Of Glasshouse Horticulture at The New York Botanical Garden said that when it comes to new varieties of plants for our homes and gardens, they are developed differently. “Some plants are chance mutations – one-of-a-kind changes that create a form, color, or type of growth never before seen. These plants can be dwarf or miniature forms, variegated plants with colored or patterned foliage, or leaf or flower shapes different from the norm.”

Meanwhile, other plants are created through hybridization, where breeders combine varieties of plants hoping to create something new and different. “These hybrids might be a color that doesn’t exist naturally or a form or type that would be considered an ideal standard for a particular plant, like a rose with a strong fragrance or an unusual color of orchid. With advances in science, new varieties can also be created in the laboratory by manipulating genes even between unrelated plant species to develop new types of plants that were once only imaginable,” Hachadourian explained.

Hachadourian told us that at the New York Botanical Garden, they cultivate many rare plants indoors and out in their collections. “There has been much talk in the media about ‘rare plants’ lately, especially plants currently selling for high prices between collectors worldwide. I do not like to assign dollar values to our plants because it is impossible to calculate the actual value of a historic scientific collection, a naturally rare species, or a 200-year-old oak tree when it comes to rare plants.”

According to him, “each plant has its own intrinsic value for science, education, history, beauty, or conservation, worth far more than any monetary amount calculated for a living thing. The term ‘rare’ is frequently overused and misapplied to increase the perceived monetary value of a plant.” 

Moreover, Hachadourian said that when communicating about their collections, he has tried “to avoid using ‘rare’ unless the statement is defined (ex. rare in cultivation, rare in collections) or for wild plants, the words threatened or endangered are terms used to qualify a plant’s risk of extinction.”

Hachadourian continued: “We cultivate a wide range of plants that could be sold for high monetary values but are less ‘rare’ than endangered or threatened species in our collections. In our glasshouse collections, rare plants include the miniature water lily Nymphaea thermarum, which until recently was considered extinct in the wild, or Osa pulchra, a beautiful flowering tree only known from a couple of dozen plants in its native habitat. Our outdoor collections have ancient oaks over 250 years old or specimens of the pumpkin ash (Fraxinus profunda), a critically endangered species naturally found in our old-growth forest.”

He concluded that “as a botanical garden, part of our larger mission is to educate and communicate the true value of plant biodiversity beyond the financial value of buying or selling a ‘rare’ plant.”