The last time I was in touch with Josef Halda, he was having some health trouble and had to slow down. He hasn't been collecting for at least ten years. There are seed collectors still, including Kurt Vickery and his colleagues in Central Asia, Oron Peri (Seeds of Peace), Vlastimil Pilous, and the proprietor of Alplains. None of them produce the massive lists mentioned by Lee. Ron Ratko (Northwest Native Seeds) no longer produces a catalog, but he's still gardening actively in Seattle and collects a little. Seed collecting is a very arduous pursuit, for the plants have to be spotted and identified earlier in the season and revisited when the seed is maturing (a few things have both flowers and ripe seeds at the same time). The PBS board has discussed the possibility of funding seed collection, but decided not to, mainly because of conservation concerns. Individuals and organizations which may not be familiar with plant populations "on the ground" tend to regard any amount of seed collection as a danger to species preservation, and it is undesirable for PBS to incur their ire, whether or not deserved. Jane McGary, Portland, oregon, USA On 6/28/2021 11:33 PM, Lee Poulsen via pbs wrote: > I haven’t seen a catalog of anything from Halda for a number of years. I suspect he’s older now and doesn’t go to Central Asia anymore on seed collecting expeditions. [Actually, is anyone taking the place of all the big seed collectors from the 1980s—2000s such as the Archibalds, or Flores and Watson, or Thad Howard?] > > _______________________________________________ pbs mailing list pbs@lists.pacificbulbsociety.net http://lists.pacificbulbsociety.net/cgi-bin/… Unsubscribe: <mailto:pbs-unsubscribe@lists.pacificbulbsociety.net>