questions about collecting wild plants

[Robert Pavlis]

In a couple of weeks I will be doing a 2 week canoe trip in central Labrador. The higher altitudes should be quite barren, rocky, and alpine like. I'd like to try to collect some plants. It is an area where nobody lives, so no danger of over collecting. We can't even find someone who has done the route we are planning on.

My question. What is the best way to preserve the live plants. It may be as much as 2 weeks before I get back to civilization. Is it best to keep fairly dry? Pack in a container and let the plants existing moisture keep them alive?

Do you know of any web sites that might be helpful?

Thanks

[Katherine J]

Some years ago I've read this in an American book about alpine plants (sorry, it was borrowed from a library, and I don't remember the author or title  - it was a rather old book, edited somewhere in the 1970's): you have to gently clean the roots from soil, put the plant (without watering!) in plastic bag, and close it. In this way you can store it about two weeks long.  i have never tried it.

[Gerdk]

When I collect plants (legally) I always keep a roll of kitchen aluminium foil with me. After digging a plant I wrap a sheet of this foil around the roots (with soil or moss from the site) and form something like a little pot. Then I stick a small drainage hole and water slightly. After that I store the plants in a way that they receive as much daylight as possible during the course of the journey. In suitable intervals I check the content of moisture in these 'pots'.
During hot weather I place the plants in plastic bags additionally.
This method works fine for me since decades, even in warmer countries. Nearly no losses.

Gerd

[David Lyttle]

Hi Robert,

As a compulsive plant collector of alpines etc from remote and inaccessible places I generally avoid collecting mature plants. I have found that digging something out by the roots is generally not particularly successful apart from being destructive. Roots are easily damaged and starting by producing a fresh set is the better option. I find that by collecting cutting material you can generally succeed in producing a viable plant Most things will grow from cuttings with the assistance of rooting hormone and a little patience. Woody plants are easily dealt with in this manner as are semi-woody herbaceous plants where rosettes make quite good cuttings. I would use a plastic bag or plastic box to store material. It is important not to cook it so when traveling in a vehicle I would be inclined to use a chilly bin/cooler. On a recent trip to the Chatham Is I collected material over a week and stored it in the hotels fridge until I was ready to leave.

[Giles]

Dear Folks,
I'm sorry to be a killjoy here,
but I'm not a great believer in wild collected plants.
It's a bit naughty.
Giles

[Maggi Young]

Indeed, Giles:  most countries have very precise rules about plant and seed collecting and I would hope these would always be adhered to.
Hard to argue against the collection, of the odd seed capsule or cutting material, in a sensible fashion, though, is it not, given that without such collections our gardens would have only native plants and there would be no chance of rescuing plants from habitats facing destruction around the world.

[Tony Willis]

I will not get into the ethics but will say that having travelled widely and seen the destruction of habitat of plants, many  such as cyclamen which are supposed to be protected, the word conservation has many interpretations.

When I collected I found the best way was to clean the soil off the roots wrap the roots in damp toilet paper and put the plant in a plastic bag with its green parts exposed and keep cool and shady. Check daily for them drying out, miss a day and they are dead.

[alpines]

Robert et al,

I don't want to get into ethics either but consider this scenario. You arrive plastic bag in hand to collect these beautiful plants and guess what? I got there twenty minutes before you and dug them all up. So now what is left for you and others to see?

I have taken great pleasure in seeing alpine and woodland plants in the wild and would like to continue to do so year after year. Digging is illegal in many countries and supported by heavy fines and in some cases, jail sentences.

Growing alpine plants is all about the challenge and the sense of achievement. Grow from seed and leave the plants for others to enjoy.

Alan

[Robert Pavlis]

I understand the concern about wild collecting, and would normally not collect plants. The area we will visit is very remote. Once we are a couple of hundred feet from the river, there is a good chance no human has ever walked the same path.

I'll likely damage more plants just going for a walk than I will ever collect. Where possible, I will collect seed, but it is still a bit early in the season for that.

[Kristl Walek]

I second David's thoughts and his technique. There *will* be seed of some species, and where there is no seed, do cuttings---the best of all---no plants are removed and you have have a much better chance of keeping the cutting alive and getting it back home.

This is what I do on my trips--and the last long one to the Yukon (over 6 weeks on the road), every cutting lived.

Down the road, these remote areas may be some of the last wilderness left to us....

[Lesley Cox]

The scale on which some Eastern European commercial  people collect, is truly terrifying, yet show after show brings to light plants which MUST have been introduced this way. I'm particularly thinking of bulbous and rhizomatous plants. Yes, many countries have strict rules but many others have no rules at all.

[David Lyttle]

In this country it is not permitted to remove plant material from the conservation estate. Collection for scientific purposes is governed by a permit system. However the knowledge of the New Zealand flora is incomplete and having discussed these matters with Department of Conservation staff and others the consensus is that you take material to establish a scientific record even if you do not have a permit otherwise the information will be lost. This may be sufficient material to provide a herbarium specimen or in some cases sufficient material to establish the plant in cultivation. I went through a phase of not collecting until I was told as it is not possible to validate plant location records from photographs alone.


Collection of plants from the wild for cultivation is a vexed question. If no one ever collected from the wild we would not have the variety of plants we all enjoy. I am comfortable with the position of limited collection of propagating material provided the plants themselves are not removed. If plants are unlikely to grow as many specialised alpine species often are, then I take a photo and walk away. As a consequence I have very few Celmisias or alpine Raoulias in my collection. I find the large tufted kinds like Celmisia semicordata almost impossible to grow. I have seen people dig these plants although the likelihood of such plants surviving in gardens is remote.