Russ, Obtaining rare plants has little to do with money and everything to do with intent and perseverance. As an example, there are tens of thousands of species (and hybrids and cultivars) that do not appear as photos of live plants in a google search. That could be one arbitrary definition of rare. If one were to try to obtain any of those plants it might involve considerable effort and time but that effort and time could be expedited with money. Whether any good is done in preserving or conserving any plant in cultivation depends on how you look at it. From a human standpoint it is desirable to grow plants for many reasons, including aesthetic ones. But with very rare and mostly fleeting exceptions, having endangered or threatened species in our care has little or no meaning in terms of *biological conservation*-- we do not have adequate sampling of any population's gene pool, nor pollinators, mycorrhizal associates, ecotones, etc. What we have by way of rare species in our care, especially if they are of known wild origin and propagated and distributed widely, is decidedly an * anthropocentric* undertaking. Saving wild areas and the plants in them is equally important, perhaps more important, but it is something very different and far removed from horticulture. Dylan