Public gardens can help prevent detrimental effects of plant invasions by collecting and sharing data on taxa spreading from cultivation early in the invasion process, thereby acting as sentinels of plant invasion. Existing initiatives have called for...

A widely accepted approach to assess extinction risk, and a key source of data underpinning the IPBES report, is the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species (hereafter Red List). However, with only 9%of plants represented by assessments at the latest...

Orchid viruses are capable of causing flower deformities and death, which can severely
impact the horticultural industry and wild orchid conservation. Here we show
how two of these quickly evolving viruses display few genetic differences...

The USDA-ARS National Plant Germplasm System (NPGS) is a coordinated network of 19 genebank locations throughout the United States that perform research to acquire, maintain,
regenerate, document, distribute, characterize, and evaluate plant...

The below case studies were collected and shared in a September 2018 Newsletter from the Center for Plant Conservation. 

Based on an interview with Denise Knapp, Director of...

Taxonomy is a scientific discipline that has provided the universal naming and classification system of biodiversity for centuries and continues effectively to accommodate new knowledge. A recent publication by Garnett and Christidis expressed concerns...

Ornamental horticulture is the primary pathway for invasive alien plant introductions. This paper critically appraises published evidence on the effectiveness of four policy instruments that tackle invasions along the horticulture supply chain: pre-...

Selecting the geographic origin—the provenance—of seed is a key decision in restoration. The last decade has seen a vigorous debate on whether to use local or nonlocal seed. The use of local seed has been the preferred approach because it is expected...

The Florida torreya is North America’s most endangered conifer, with less than one percent of its population remaining. Now, scientists are mounting a last-ditch effort to save the torreya and are considering using new gene-editing technologies to...

Recent estimates indicate that one-fifth of botanical species worldwide are considered at risk of becoming extinct in the wild. One available strategy for conserving many rare plant species is reintroduction, which holds much promise especially when...

Botanic gardens around the world maintain collections of living plants for science, conservation, education, beauty and more. These collections change over time e in scope and content e but the predicted impacts of climate change...

Architectural design is a decision-making process in which we both create our own surroundings and respond to the environment around us. The places we create reveal much about our understanding of, and connection with, our environment. In essence, our...

This document contains a Public Garden article titled The Morton Arboretums New Master Plan for Collections by Kunso Kim and Marcus de la Fleur.

This document includes a 1986 Public Garden article titled Mt. Cuba: Implementing a Policy by Claire Sawyers.

This document contains a 1990 Public Garden Article titled How to Write a Plant Collections Policy. 

This document contains an article titled Rationale and Guidelines for Drafting Collections Management Policies.

This document contains a 1986 Public Garden article titled Collections Policy: The Basics.

This document contains an article titled Plant Collecting & Permits by James A. Bauml.