No cactus currently holds the IUCN’s formal Extinct in the Wild status. Mammillaria glochidiata held it until 2013. These seven walk that line, with cultivation lineages serving as the only insurance population for species whose wild type localities have been inundated, cleared, or stripped.
Lophophora williamsii biology, Chihuahuan Desert habitat, the geophyte taproot, CITES Appendix II status (not Appendix I), IUCN Vulnerable, and the conservation organizations working to keep wild populations alive.
A comprehensive reference guide for the 2026 CITES Appendix I listed cacti, explaining the difference between Appendix I and II, and what that means for collectors.
The illegal cactus trade drives entire species toward extinction. Operation Atacama, the Big Bend Living Rock prosecutions, and the South African Conophytum crisis on the documented record, with named defendants, court findings, and what seed grown cultivation offers as the alternative.
