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Top 5 rarest plants in the world

evergreen

Number of wild individuals remaining — Living-world superlatives

Snapshot · 2026-05-31

  1. 1

    Encephalartos woodii (Wood's Cycad)

    0 in the wild; all ~500 living plants are male clones

  2. 2

    Pennantia baylisiana

    1 wild tree (Three Kings Islands, NZ)

  3. 3

    Cafe Marron (Ramosmania rodriguesii)

    reduced to 1 wild plant; now propagated

  4. 4

    Three Kings Kaikomako

    a handful of individuals

  5. 5

    Western Underground Orchid (Rhizanthella gardneri)

    a few dozen known, lives entirely underground