Expeditions
Many of the world’s plants are poorly known – some are known but have never been introduced to cultivation while others remain undiscovered. We feel a great sense of urgency to explore, discover, and introduce as our planet is losing more species each year than it has since the die-off of the dinosaurs around 65 million years ago.
In response, the FRBC embarks on plant explorations to remote areas around the globe, specifically searching for uncommon and vulnerable species threatened by human resource exploitation or climate change. Acquiring cultivated plants from foreign countries that are not in the US, is also a focus as many of these carry provenance from expeditions while others provide key horticultural diversification.
The first Asian expedition for the FRBC in 2017 resulted in discovering a new species of Heteropolygonatum along with a heady number of first-time introductions to cultivation. Subsequently, we have made acquisition trips to the UK and explored remote areas of southern China and Northwest Argentina.
