Hi Jane, Regarding your piece on collections: 1. Can you suggest interesting collections of a single genus or family, gathered and maintained by an individual or household, whose proprietors I can interview, correspond with, and/or visit about their work? I live in the UK and as you probably know there is a wide range of public collections organised under the banner of the National Council for the Conservation of Plants and Gardens (NCCPG), which runs under the wider management of the Royal Horticultural Society at Wisley. In addition, there are a number of individuals like myself who organise private collections. In past years I did hold my collection of Oxalis under the NCCPG scheme but, frankly, the bureaucracy of that organisation eventually drove me to give them up. Nowadays I maintain a dozen or so collections for my own interest. 2. Why do you think individuals (as opposed to institutions such as botanical gardens) create serious collections of particular kinds of plants? What motivates them? I can't speak for other but I hope I understand some of my own motivations! My most powerful driver is my fascination with the never-ending variability of plants in every dimension that one can imagine. Secondly, I am fascinated with the process of researching, finding, obtaining, germinating, growing-on and flowering plants - most of my material is from wild-collected seed. Thirdly, like most collectors, there is a strong element of what business psychiatrists sometimes call "completer-finishers"; I think you should be able to work that out for yourself! 3. If you are a collector yourself, what kinds of information do you think are important for others beginning to build collections? Patience. Growing space. Good access to information - Google can do most of that. Extensive record keeping. 4. What are some ways that a notable collection can be perpetuated when the individual who keeps it is no longer able to do so? Do you know of examples where collections have been successfully bequeathed, distributed, or otherwise preserved (e.g., the conifer collection in the National Arboretum in Washington, DC)? I don't believe that there is any fool proof way of maintaining collections beyond the ability and interest of the keeper, other than encouraging that person to give away/sell as much as possible during their period of interest. All collections need a "product hero" dedicated to their continuation. 5. How are private collections valuable to science and environmental conservation? Do ethical collectors outnumber "orchid thieves"? Do you know of instances in which material from private collections has been used in habitat restoration? I doubt very much that many are of any value to science - the necessary discipline over the accession of material is not sufficient. However, the same is true of many so-called "scientific collections held in botanic gardens. Having looked at many collections in such places over the years, I am aware that the material is often mis-identified. The various Index Seminum that are used to obtain much of the material often have been contaminated with open-pollinated material and, only too frequently, the in-house gardeners have mixed up labels or treated seedlings as authentic material. Hope that helps. Best regards, David Victor