A case in to demonstrate ammeter horticultural efforts with rare and difficult plants. Some years ago I bought two seedlings of a rare Iris, from Jim Almond who was one of the two national collection holders of Juno Iris in the UK. (Tony Hall/ Kew has the other collection). Iris hippolyti from the Kyzl Kum dessert may be in no danger in the wild due to its remote and inhospitable location,- I don't know. However I have distributed a couple of hundred seeds of this Iris over the last three years. I have also supplied material to two nurserymen capable of growing this type of Iris. This is a picture of the plant in flower. http://flickr.com/photos/66380714@N06/… Janis Ruksan lost his plants a few years ago, in case any of you think these plants are easy. I have heard that someone in Holland was growing it. I understand that Kews plants were paler than mine and came from Janis before he lost his stock. I don't know whether mine are from Janises collection but I gave Kew one clone and will give them another. I think that they only had two clones. If they wish they can produce seeds of each form. In case they actually represent local wild forms, this would be worth while. These are difficult plants to keep going in my climate and I struggle sometimes, but should material this plant ever be needed for research or repatriation to the wild; I as a hobby gardener and collector of Juno iris, have done my best to make it widely available. Thanks to this "good horticulturalist" and not a botanic garden, Iris hippolytii may be in cultivation on three continents by now. Due to the nature of the plant I do not expect it will be a problem in the wild as an escape. perhaps I will be proved wrong. How silly Botanical Institutions are not to be actively seeking this kind of assistance. I hope that it is appropriate I sent this to Kathryn Kennedy too. Peter (UK) On Tue, Sep 13, 2011 at 3:19 PM, <meneice@att.net> wrote: > > From: Kathryn Kennedy [mailto:Kathryn.Kennedy@mobot.org] > Sent: Thursday, September 08, 2011 5:17 AM > To: meneice@att.net; jocelyn616@earthlink.net; Emmy Seymour; Ann Coburn; > ladeenm@gmail.com; Diana Neely; Patricia Schleuning > Subject: RE: [pbs] Saving Endangered Plants > > It saddens me to think that our devoted conservation horticulturists who > are > so professional and work so hard to understand and recover these plants (so > that we CAN make them more widely available someday) are so misunderstood. > I hope we are and will be the bridge between horticultural research, > popular > horticulture, and conservation! > > The concept that we could engage nurseries to get busy and grow lots of > these things for repatriation is just not practical yet. I wish it WERE > easy enough to give out kits and provide instruction to good > horticulturalists and good gardeners and garden clubs everywhere so there > was an army out there, but the fact is that it IS complicated, and we are > still feeling our way. >