Conservation, education, and recognition of the National Flower of the Dominican Republic

Leuenbergeria quisqueyana is an extremely threatened member of the cactus family and is also the National Flower of the Dominican Republic, a country located on Hispaniola Island, a Caribbean Biodiversity Hotspot. The first global conservation assessment for this species was made in 2011 and showed that due to the limited geographical range, both in the occupation area (AOO) and the extent of the populations (EOO), the species needed to be included in Critically Endangered category on the IUCN Red List. After more than one decade of this assessment, the habitat of the species forest has been dramatically reduced, both in size and quality, due to infrastructure expansion for tourism development. Although multiple conservation efforts have taken place in the area, with the ongoing climate change, more information with respect to the species is needed to mitigate these specific threats. Here we proposed a revision of the conservation status, aiming to contribute to filling the knowledge gap with respect to the current known distribution, population sizes, trends, threats, use (if any), and other important aspects needed to complete the assessments and understanding more in detail the reason that has led the species under the status. This assessment is an essential tool for the future designing and implementation of conservation action plans, purposely mitigating, de- escalating, and reducing the extinction risk of this Hispaniola endemic cactus. With the project funds, an adjusted IUCN Red list species assessment was realized in 2023. The Bayahibe rose (Pereskia quisqueyana), which was discovered by Henri Alain Liogier in 1977. Liogier in 1977. The rose belongs to the cactaceae family and is one of the few cacti with leaves. few cacti with leaves. Reaching up to six meters in height, it is endangered and endemic to the area of Bayahibe, Dominican Republic.