Ourisia

Greetings to everyone,

As a newcomer to the medit-plants listserver, I would first like to say
that I have been enjoying the many messages that I have been receiving
since I subscribed.  It is exciting to connect with others who love plants
and love to talk about them!

I am a first year graduate student studying systematic botany at the
University of Texas at Austin under Dr. Beryl Simpson.  I have a strong
interest and personal connection to Chile and decided to find a
dissertation project that would take me back there to do some research.  I
have chosen to study the evolution and biogeography of Ourisia
(Scrophulariaceae), which I'm sure all of you know is a genus of about 30
species found in New Zealand, Tasmania, and South America (from Colombia to
Tierra del Fuego).  I am very excited about this project, and am looking
forward to my first collecting trip this December and January to central
and southern Chile.

The reason that I am writing is that I am very interested in buying seeds
and/or plants to grow here at the university.  One of the professors here
has his own "temperate" greenhouse where he has had good luck growing some
alpine scrophs, and has agreed to give me some space to try to grow some
Ourisias.  I have been doing some surfing on the net for nurseries and seed
companies that might have Ourisia seeds.  Since it grows in rocky, moist
places, some rock garden nurseries seem to have a few species here and
there, but most are in the UK and it seems tricky and expensive to ship
live plants over to the US.  So far, the cheapest and best alternative
looks like buying seeds from "B and T Seeds" since they have seeds for
about 6 species.

If anyone has any advice regarding 1)  nurseries and seed companies (esp.
in the US) that sell Ourisia, and 2) germinating and growing Ourisia seeds,
I would much appreciate any response.  Also, has anyone had good luck with
B and T Seeds?

Thanks,

Heidi

P.S.  A photo of O. macrophylla from the Gleannard Nursery can be seen on
the internet at:  http://www.gleannard.com/cata-pic/ourisia-macrophylla.jpg
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