A study on human destruction of the living world has found 571 plant species have been wiped out since 1750.
This new figure is four times the number of extinct plants recorded in the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s red list.
Dr Maria Vorontsova, a scientist at the Royal Botanic Gardens in Kew, called the discovery ‘frightening’, not just because of the number but because scientists believe it is a gross underestimate.