Seed and Bulb Excanges, some Comments

The issue of rare and endangered is much less clear. At Chicago Botanic
Garden we have plants that were obtained before they were listed as
being of conservation concern. Because our collections are documented,
if we chose to we could approach the US Fish and Wildlife Service for a
permit to legally propagate and sell them - we haven't; but legally we
could.

A number of taxa are of conservation concern in their native habitats
but are relatively wide spread in cultivation - a couple of well known
examples include trees like Metasequoia glyptostroboides, Ginkgo
biloba,
Araucaria araucana, etc.

I agree--a good discussion.
But I guess I side with Ron, at least in saying that I haven't yet
heard some really good reasons why seeds of rare and endangered species
should not be grown by hobbyists. If it were the case that, like
wild-collected bulbs or orchids themselves, the supply of seeds were
also being decimated and wiped out by overcollection, then I would
agree with not sharing them (unless they were from plants already in
the public domain). Because, one, if it is that rare and there are that
many people purchasing the seeds to grow them, then it would seem that
sooner rather than later, there would be a bunch of people around the
world growing and then further propagating that species. And two, I
find it hard to imagine a scenario where all the seed of a species was
being collected and yet no one was furthering the increase of the
plants in captivity and the species thereby went extinct. (Which is
just a twist on my first reason.)

Boyce names several species that ARE being grown in cultivation and
don't appear to be in danger of extinction in that arena. Another one I
know about is Tecophilaea cyanocrocus which was thought for a long time
to be completely extinct in its native habitat although a small
population of them has since been re-discovered. However, it can be
purchased for a price from nurseries and people literally all over the
world. A number of us grow it as well, and it's not that difficult to
grow. And yet, someone like Osmani Baullosa, who lives in Chile, and
has been offering a large number of spectacular native Chilean bulbs
and other plants, cannot find or get hold of either seed or bulbs
anywhere in his country. They are completely unavailable to him there.
But I'm certain they would grow as easily for him in cultivation as, or
more likely *more* easily than, they grow for me. So in this case, I
think a Chilean like Osmani might actually be glad that this native
extremely rare and endangered beauty is being grown by hobbyists and
nurseries elsewhere so he can have the opportunity to grow it himself
some day. And maybe even possibly help in restoring it to its native
habitat. (I am uninformed on this, so I don't know if there are
programs in place already trying to re-introduce it into more of its
habitat. Certainly, Chilean hobbyists and ordinary gardeners can't
obtain it from their local nurseries.)

--Lee Poulsen
Pasadena, California, USDA Zone 10a