T I assume you refer tio the policy which restricts the use of seed produced in cultivation. There are several reasons for this. One of the most obvious is the increased likelihood that seeds in cultivation are more likely to represent hybridization. In general, we have little interest in 'man-made' hybrids and cultivars (which seems to be a major focus of interest among private collectors as reflected in the PBS listserve). We do have a number of naturally occuring cultivars/varieties/subspecies but few produced horticulturally (e.g., we have about 10,000 different species but close to 13,000 taxa). I think the cultivated variations have great value, but I see no way, a serious research collection could maintain the full array of such variation. Some gardens are in fact, specializing in horticultural cultivars. Another reason we prefer wild-collected seed is the genetic diversity of the wild population is better represented as compared to selfing or limited interindividual pollution in a garden. Of course, the value of provenance relates to the use of plants for academic research and hopefully ex situ conservation (if plants are to be reintroduced, we believe it preferable to use plants adapted to the site). vegetatively propagated materials (e.g., cuttings, bulbiles, bulb divisions) at least represent genetically represent the original specimen. On a related note, the fact that it is so hard to get data for what's even in public botanical gardens also illustrates one reasons why cultivation by private growers or even small public gardens a problem. We have a long way to go to catalog and track such collections. In fact, database development and maintenance are major issues for all gardens. Also, these individual/small collections are probably even more likely to be lost with the individual than changes due to new directors in more long-standing public gardens. Paul Paul Licht, Director Univ. California Botanical Garden 200 Centennial Drive Berkeley, CA 94720 (510)-643-8999 http://botanicalgarden.berkeley.edu/ On 12/24/2011 11:23 AM, Tim Harvey wrote: > Paul, > > I was wondering at the rationale behind your policy, assuming the parent plants would be of known origin? > > T > > >> Incidentally, our own policy prevents use of >> our seed for building the collection since the seed is not directly from >> a wild population source. > _______________________________________________ > pbs mailing list > pbs@lists.ibiblio.org > http://pacificbulbsociety.org/list.php > http://pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/ >