This page has some short profiles of some of the many rare plants in the FRBC collection. Often, it is a first-flowering that will catapult a plant onto this page or we have simply come to realize what a special introduction this plant represents. Sometimes it is because a plant brings back vivid memories in the field, either good or bad!
1818 Hastings Avenue
Port Townsend, WA 98368
360-385-5114
email (plants@farreachesbotanicalconservancy.org)
Click HERE to download our Articles of Incorporation.
Click HERE to download the 501 (c) (3) Letter of Determination for FRBC.
Carpinus fangiana
This Chinese hornbeam tree is rightly regarded as the Queen of the genus and for good reason, as it possesses the longest flowers of any Carpinus species – up to 20” long! The hop-like pendulous flower structures are comprised of overlapping green bracts providing the working procreative parts with some necessary privacy.
The leaves are large for a hornbeam and properly elegant with prominent veins. This species was one we most desired to find in the wild and when we finally did on a mountain slope in Guizhou, a proposal of marriage to Sue came blurting from Kelly’s lips. Two years later we found a hidden population of old growth trees 90’ tall which was amazing as The Flora of China had a maximum height of 65’ listed. Sue had said yes earlier so we could simply stand in awe of this MVT – Most Valuable Tree.
Polygonatum jinzhaiense MD1597
Known only from herbarium specimens until our introduction, this Solomon Seal has large, baby powder scented flowers.
We found it on a remote ridge newly accessible by a road that had just been completed. At this ridge, a trail was being constructed along its spine and it was down the very steep slope that we saw a plant which, even at that distance, seemed a match to the herbarium sheet of Polygonatum jinzhaiense. Despite a cracked rib suffered earlier collecting seed, Kelly insisted on carefully scrambling down to secure a division of the rhizome for the DNA work which later confirmed this to be P. jinzhaiense.
The excitement of finding this species was tempered by the new ease of access to the area. We can say with near certainty that populations of this species no longer exist in this area due to farmers bringing goats up to graze and the unregulated harvest of rhizomes for medicinal use. Had we gone to this ridge just a year later, we would not have found this species.
By practicing ex situ conservation, the Far Reaches Botanical Conservancy is incorporating plants like Polygonatum jinzhaiense into a carefully maintained conservation nursery that is essentially a botanical archive of living genetic resources.
Rhodoleia championae CDHM 14695
This Rhodoleia championae CDHM 14695 is an evergreen member of the Hamamelidaceae or Witch Hazel family, of which there are about ten species. This species is found in Malaysia, Myanmar, Vietnam and China. We collected seed of this in 2012 and are very thrilled with its first flowering!
