Canadian Heritage Plants

Category(-ies): Plant Conservation , Plants, Food and Medicine

Seeds of Diversity has released its list of "Seedy Saturdays" for 2004. Who is Seeds of Diversity?

From their website:

“Seeds of Diversity is a Canadian charitable organization dedicated to the conservation, documentation and use of public-domain non-hybrid plants of Canadian significance. Our 1700 members from coast to coast are gardeners, farmers, teachers, scientists, agricultural historians, researchers and seed vendors. Together we grow, propagate and distribute over 1500 varieties of vegetables, fruit, grains, flowers and herbs. We are a living gene bank.”

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Posted by Daniel Mosquin at 2:37 AM

Three gardens planned to close in California

Category(-ies): Other Botanical Gardens

Los Angeles County has plans to close three botanical gardens and to deed the remaining garden to a garden-associated organization.

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Posted by Daniel Mosquin at 3:07 PM

Lighting a Candle for Middleton

Category(-ies): Other Botanical Gardens

On Friday, the 19th of December, UBC Botanical Garden will be lighting a candle in support of the National Botanic Garden of Wales, which faces closure due to funding shortfalls.

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Posted by Daniel Mosquin at 2:36 PM

Selby Botanical Gardens pleads guilty

Category(-ies): Other Botanical Gardens , Plant Legal News and Issues

For background on this story, please read this weblog entry: Phragmipedium kovachii.

Marie Selby Botanical Gardens has pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of violating the US Endangered Species Act for its role in illegally importing Phragmipedium kovachii. Selby Botanical Gardens will pay a fine of $5000, be placed on probation and also petition to have the name of the orchid revoked (please read the background for details about the name).

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Posted by Daniel Mosquin at 2:11 PM

Heat Generating Plants

Category(-ies): Plant Discoveries

From Science News Online: Some plants can generate enough heat to exceed 30°C near the inflorescence, even when the outside temperature is just above freezing. Generally, these plants are in groups of plants that are understood to be the direct descendants of the most ancient flowering plants including arums, magnolias and water-lilies.

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Posted by Daniel Mosquin at 1:00 AM

Photosynthesis 3.7 billion years old?

Category(-ies): Plant Discoveries

Researchers from Denmark have found what they claim to be evidence of photosynthesis in oceanic rock that is 3.7 billion years old, roughly a billion years older than current estimates. The researchers compared the relative abundance of uranium and thorium from ancient rock near Isua, Greenland, and their data suggest that the oceanic environment of the Earth 3.7 billion years ago was oxidative. This led them to conclude that photosynthesis was occurring to explain the presence of oxygen (a byproduct of photosynthesis).

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Posted by Daniel Mosquin at 1:18 PM

Burns Bog - Finally Preserved?

Category(-ies): Plant Conservation

The Federal Government of Canada, the Province of British Columbia, the Greater Vancouver Regional District and the Corporation of Delta are each contributing to an offer of $78.7 million CDN to acquire 5426 acres (2196 hectares) of land to protect and preserve Burns Bog.

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Posted by Daniel Mosquin at 1:21 PM

Largest Tree in Australia Killed By Mistake

Category(-ies): Plant Conservation

The eucalyptus, known as “El Grande”, was damaged earlier this year when a controlled burn went awry. Located in Tasmania, this individual tree was not the highest, but rather the largest by volume. Forestry Tasmania hoped that it would recover, but now that the Australian spring has passed, it has officially been declared dead.

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Posted by Daniel Mosquin at 1:17 AM

The Café Marron Tree

Category(-ies): Plant Conservation

From the Kew press release:

“Experts at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew have made a historic breakthrough by producing the first ever recorded fruits of the café marron tree, giving new hope for the survival of this critically endangered plant species.”

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Posted by Daniel Mosquin at 4:13 PM

And so it spreads...

Category(-ies): Plant Diseases and Pests

BBC News reports that sudden oak death (a fungus named Phytophthora ramorum) has infected several species of native trees in England: beech, horse chestnut and holm oak.

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Posted by Daniel Mosquin at 11:23 PM

Using Chlorophyll as a Photographic Medium

Category(-ies): Botanical Art

Contemporary artists Heather Ackroyd and Dan Harvey use grass to make photographic images. The Artsadmin website suggests: "Processes of germination, growth, and decay shape and influence much of Ackroyd & Harvey's work, frequently reflecting both scientific and architectural concerns."

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Posted by Daniel Mosquin at 2:54 AM