New Member with plant availability
Ron Vanderhoff (Mon, 15 Dec 2008 21:32:57 PST)

Welcome Paul,

For those of you not familiar with the UC Berkeley Botanical Garden you have missed a true botanical treasure. In my opinion this is one of the great botanical garrdens in the western U.S. Over the long term the challenges of running a university botanical garden, with their irregular funding streams, make this an even more impressive facility. The plant collections are among the most diverse in the country with a special emphasis on the five Mediterranean climates of the world. My favorite is the South African garden, which is chock full of surprises.

The collection of California geophytes is especially impressive as well, with nearly 100 taxa. Additionally, the collections are very well documented with complete accession data and are comprised of mostly wild collected material - legally and thoughtfully. In sum, this garden is quite impressive garden in both its collections and its operations.

We should be glad to have Paul and the UC Berkeley garden on board.

Ron Vanderhoff
Southern California
Zone 9b to 10a

________________________________
From: Paul Licht <plicht@berkeley.edu>
To: Pacific Bulb Society <pbs@lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Monday, December 15, 2008 2:34:23 PM
Subject: [pbs] New Member with plant availability

By way of introduction as a new member, after using and enjoying the PBS
wiki for quite some time, I decided that I should 'pay my dues'. As
Director of the Univ. California Botanical Garden at Berkeley, I enjoy
an incredible array of geophytes from around the word (e.g., about 250
Amaryllidaceae and 300 Iridaceae species) and most notably, a large
South African collection. Our collection is data-driven and the vast
majority  is wild collected of known provenance.  I am also personally
passionate about these plants and have my own collection, with an
emphasis on the S. African bulbs and aroids. While it may sound like I
should be an expert, I can only wish I were: I've already learned a
great deal from the PBS listserve. Incidentally, I am not a botanist by
background but perhaps it is relevant that much of my research was on
the endocrinology of African hyenas.

I have started adding images to the wiki from our collection and may be
able to provide information on cultivation of some lesser known
species.  The Garden propagates a large number of  geophytes (among
other plants) for sale to the public; I would love to give them away or
trade but cannot do this routinely because the funds are essential to
help maintain the Garden. If you are interested, you can view a partial
availability list on our website
(http://botanicalgarden.berkeley.edu/shop/…).
You can email me if you have questions.  The Garden continues to seek
new material (legally collected) with data and would greatly appreciate
if you can help in this way.

Paul

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