The project

The Cero Project of living fossils is assigned to a line of research of the Royal Botanic Garden (CSIC) dedicated to the study of endangered plants.

The project studies five ’Critically Endangered’ plants endemic to the Iberian Peninsula and the Balearic Islands. These plants present the greatest urgency for the conservation of the Spanish flora due to the fact that they are the last living representatives of their genera and lineages. For that reason they are the only ones that may, in principle, be considered true living fossils.