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Societal Impact Statement: Conservation seed banks maintain collections of many seed‐bearing plant species, providing germplasm and data to support management of wild populations. However, a proportion of plant species produce seeds that are difficult to collect, dry, store and utilise; these are known as 'exceptional' species. Here we tested a framework for identifying exceptional species, to document examples and provide case studies within the Australian flora. We present a workflow that may be used to identify additional exceptional species, and direct efforts to establish appropriate collection types (seeds and/or living collections, tissue culture or cryopreservation) for their ex situ conservation. Summary: Seed banking is well established to contribute to the conservation of many seed‐bearing plant species ex situ for future use in restoration, translocation, agriculture and horticulture. In Australia, over 67% of currently listed threatened plants are represented in conservation seed banks. However, there are challenges to conserving the full extent of plant diversity in seed banks, with growing recognition that we need to think beyond conventional seed banking methods to conserve 'exceptional' plant species that are difficult to collect, store and germinate. We examine how the framework for identification of such species can be applied to the Australian flora, using examples from the recently published guidelines for 'Plant Germplasm Conservation in Australia' and case studies and data arising from the Australian Academy of Science Fenner Conference on the Environment 'Exceptional Times, Exceptional Plants'. We present a workflow to assist conservation decision‐makers and practitioners in identifying exceptional species and overcoming barriers to storage of germplasm, enabling appropriate ex situ collection types to be established via seeds, living collections, tissue culture, cryopreservation or a combination of these. Australia's seed conservation sector continues to expand, with increasing expertise, facilities and networks established to conserve a diversity of plant species; however, resolving the challenges relating to each exceptionality factor requires significantly more time, labour and collaboration than current capacity allows. Understanding the barriers to conservation and production of healthy plants, via germination or other methods of propagation, is a critical component of conserving species long‐term and ultimately returning plants to the landscape. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Societal Impact Statement: Plants are fundamental to terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems and are key to human livelihoods. To protect plant diversity, systematic approaches to conservation assessment are needed. Many nations have legislation or other policy instruments that seek to protect biodiversity (including plants), and species‐level assessments are essential for identifying the most threatened species that require special and immediate protection measures. Some plants occur in only one place (for instance, a single country) and here we have estimated how many of these 'endemic' species have had their threats assessed in each country or close country‐equivalent worldwide. We show that the level of assessment completion is only weakly related to the income of countries or the likely level of threat that species face. Summary: The Global Strategy for Plant Conservation ambitiously called for an assessment of the conservation status of all recognised plant taxa by 2020. This target was not met in the short term. Nevertheless, the need for conservation assessments remains urgent as plants go extinct and face increasing threats from human impacts on the biosphere.Here, the completeness of threat assessments for endemic flora in 179 countries or their close equivalents was assessed. To do so, distribution information from the World Checklist of Vascular Plants was combined with assessments collated in the ThreatSearch database. The completeness of assessments was expected to be associated with the objective affluence of countries (measured using inequality‐adjusted Human Development Index (IHDI)) and/or the exposure of their plant species to threats associated with human impacts (measured using Global Human Modification index (GHM)). The number of endemic species per country was also hypothesised to influence the completion of assessments.Overall, 58% of all country‐based endemic species examined have no conservation assessment (127,643 species). Countries' progress toward the completion of threat assessments for endemic plants could not be confidently predicted by IHDI, GHM or the richness of endemic plant flora.The shortfall in threat assessments identified here restricts national regulation of actions which imperil plant species, with particular consequences for endemic plant species subject to local laws. Some nations with high IHDI scores (i.e. wealthier nations) are not systematically assessing extinction risk in their endemic species. Scarce funding should be directed to global hotspots of endemism with few available resources for assessment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]