Rarest flax plant

The world's rarest species of flax plant is the Floreana flax (Linum cratericola), native to the Galapagos Islands. Only discovered by science in the 1960s, then feared extinct from 1981 until rediscovered in 1997, this small subshrub is presently limited to three small groups on Floreana Island. Here it is threatened with extinction by feral goats, other introduced ungulates, and invasive plants, as well as by dry periods of weather. It is the only species of flax ranked as Critically Endangered by the IUCN.