Dear All,
Alan Kennedy is on nomail at the moment since he is really busy with the
project below. I thought you all might be interested in this report so with
his permission am sending this on. ("No problem if you want to use my email
to tell your members. The programme goes under the name, 'Project
Ludwig'. For those wishing to know more about the background on the test
lab I suggest they visit the Bioprofiles web site. http://www.bioprofiles.co.uk/ ")
Mary Sue
You might be interested to know I raised the large amount of money
necessary to do the DNA tests on Schizostylis to hopefully identify the
various cultivars and the project is well under way. Thanks are due to
the Stanley Smith Horticultural Trust(UK) and Bioprofiles Ltd, who are
probably the leading European research company in this field. The
herbarium records associated with the tests are being supervised by staff
from the Royal Botanic Gardens, Edinburgh and I am very grateful for their
expertise and contribution. We have some 53 cultivars in the test
programme with 3 newly collected in S. Africa. A very interesting new
cultivar has turned up, again as yet un-named, and if it proves stable in
cultivation and turns out to be recognisably different in the DNA tests it
will be well worth all the effort on the project.
Results are expected in the New Year and there will be a press release no
doubt.
Very best wishes,
Alan Kennedy