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NEW INTRODUCTIONS AND THE USE OF GENETIC RESOURCES

2001; International Society for Horticultural Science; Issue: 552 Linguagem: Inglês

10.17660/actahortic.2001.552.17

2406-6168

Christopher Brickell,

Botanical Studies and Applications

An outline of the background of plant introduction past and present from the wild, is given and emphasis placed on the need to conserve the plants from which the germplasm we use is derived both in the wild and in cultivation. The importance and maintaining and expanding genetic resources of ornamental plants in gene banks and national and international collections is also emphasized. The effect of the Convention on Biological Diversity and the CITES regulations on new plant introductions is also discussed in relation to future breeding and selection of ornamental plants. 1. Historical introduction Wheat, oats, rye, flax, millet, buckwheat and other species of use to mankind have been cultivated since the dawn of history and gradually selections with attributes such as high yield were made either by chance or by design. It is very unlikely that, at a time when survival was the main concern, plants were grown simply for their ornamental value but gradually, as civilisations developed, plants were collected and introduced from the wild for their aesthetic and ornamental qualities as well as for culinary and medicinal purposes. The earliest plant hunting expedition currently recorded is one authorised by Queen Hatshepsut of Egypt who, in 1495 BC, sent Prince Nehani to the Land of Punt (Somalia) to bring back living plants of “incense trees” (probably myrrh, Commiphora myrrha) to grow in the garden of the temple of Amon at Thebes. This was undoubtedly for it’s economic, rather than ornamental potential, but soon plants were being collected for other, probably scientific, reasons by her nephew Thutmesis III and carvings depicting these plants (mostly unidentified to date) may be seen on the temple walls at Karnak today. Since Queen Hatshepsut’s time the introduction of ornamental plants to Europe increased from a trickle of medicinal species and culinary herbs spread through the Roman Empire and by mediaeval monasteries to an influx of decorative species from Asia Minor (particularly Turkey), the Balkans and North America during the second half of the sixteenth century and the first half of the seventeenth century. From this time onwards plants from many parts of the world were introduced, particularly into northern Europe, sent or brought back by missionaries, sea captains, doctors, traders, administrators, botanists, horticulturists, explorers and even pirates! In the nineteenth and early twentieth century, these plants introductions, often brought back by collectors and expeditions sent out by the Royal Botanic Gardens Kew and the Royal Horticultural Society in Britain, as well as by private enthusiasts and nurserymen like James Veitch, reached a peak with thousands of new species arriving in cultivation in Europe from China, Japan, North and South America, Africa and Australasia. One collector, Ernest (“Chinese”) Wilson was credited with introducing over 1,000 new species!