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Danger! Vanishing flowers

They may be used for or in all manner of ways, but we probably take them for granted.   Flowers!   But now, they too, are under threat, as this interesting op-ed piece in The New York Times explains.

"But now we are losing many flowering plants to extinction before we even knew they existed. An estimated 68 percent of the world’s flowering plants are now threatened or endangered. This staggering loss of diversity is due to anthropogenic causes, including habitat loss, degradation and invasive species.

Conversion of land for housing our ever-expanding human population and for new roads, mines and farms erases wildflowers’ living space and threatens yet more native plants. Invasive (weedy) plants populate new areas, competing for space, light and nutrients with those already growing there. It is these trends that are driving the massive loss of flowering species."

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