LOS BARRIOS (EuropaSur/Photo: by Imbala on Flickr) Christella dentata is a type of fern that had become extinct in Southern Spain, and especially in Los Alcornocales Nature Park, where the species was last seen in 2000. But all that has changed, since now it has been successfully re-established thanks to the work of the Laboratorio de Propagación Vegetal and the Nursery Network of Andalucía, both part of the Junta's Department of the Environment. They used a pioneering technique that involved germinating a variety of unidentified spores that had been collected in the last known place the fern had been traced. It took over a year of investigation and research but the first result was a surprise when it was found that some of the spores had turned into the 'extinct' Christella dentata.>
