The wild cotoneaster, Cotoneaster cambricus is found in only one place in the world, the Great Orme in Llandudno.
It used to be abundant on the limestone cliffs but was sought after by Victorian souvenir hunters and collected almost to extinction. It is also threatened by non-native cotoneaster plants that have escaped from gardens. The invasive garden plants compete with the wild cotoneaster for space and can sometimes hybridise with it.
We have been investigating the taxonomy and genetics of this rare plant and using a propagation technique called air-layering, to collect cuttings of the individuals in the wild and create a collection at the Garden.
