Today's post is just my early musings on the big problem of plant conservation on our planet these days. Two topics that interest me are the problem of plant poaching, and the promise of ex situ conservation. Those of us who grow endangered or extinct-in-the-wild plants and share our knowledge of them and enthusiasm about them for others are definitely engaged in good work. Botanical gardens and collections that preserve seed and DNA are very important as species go extinct.
I know in my part of the world, that some species of Mammillaria cacti, my favorite, are being poached to extinction in the wild.
Ditto Tillandsias.
And habitat loss is a huge problem for both genera. So over the next few weeks, I'll be going over my collection with an eye to what needs to be conserved, and how best to do that. If you've got books or articles on the subject that you can recommend, let me know! I'm researching....
Wow, such beautiful plants Marla, and your Tillandsia collection is inspiring. I've fallen for them and will be adding a few to my plant collection. Good on you with your contribution to conservation. I found these two interesting sites for you, if you have not already seen them: (http://fcbs.org/articles/seed_raising.htm) & (http://www.airplant.com). Best! :)
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you'll be growing Tillies, too! Thanks for the sites, I'll be reading them.
ReplyDeleteYeah, poaching part is happening here too, and developing a knowledge of the plant's needs are important as well. My main concern with plants I get is to first try and multiply and then look at staging and all the frills. So many do not look as "full" as some other peoples, but then I usually have 3 separate pots. With the blogs we can give info that can help other people be more successful, very true, and thereby less 'kills'. Good on you, now, you can share your new knowledge with time, via posts, will be watching and enjoying as usual.
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