We analyse three interrelated key mechanisms for adaptive potential in plants: (i) standing intraspecific variation in phenotypic trait means and plasticity, (ii) phenotypic plasticity within individual life-cycles and across generations, and (iii) evolutionary potential of populations and species. This combination of range-wide surveys of multivariate trait variation and plasticity with in-depth studies of population-level evolutionary potential provides an approach towards novel knowledge-based conservation applications in a changing climate.