Dear Karl;
AIS is already working on species preservation. The
problem is so few people that can help and so few
funds to work with. A little over a year ago the AIS
Science committee formulated a policy statement that I
believe is still on the AIS website and was printed in
the bulletin. Through the years we have done many
projects. Previously the preservation unit was called
RISC and was a standing committee in itself. Tasks are
really performed by people and The AIS lends support
as the structure that enables the individual efforts.
Since SIGNA is the species section most efforts
involve AIS and SIGNA and it all happens through
individuals that do the work. By membership in AIS and
SIGNA you make much of the work possible.
You may ask what has AIS accomplished. There is a very
rich legacy that everyone is experiencing directly or
indirectly in the gardens today. For example we sent
Jim Waddick on a collecting expedition to China and 16
previously unavailable Iris species were introduced
into horticulture. Siberian people gained Iris
typhifolia. The SIGNA seed exchange has brought many
species provided by scientists around the world. AIS
just recently funded research that is exploring a new
species of Louisiana Iris in Florida. When funds were
not available from AIS committee members actually
dipped into their own pockets to fund a review of Iris
species in Turkey that lead to the rediscovery of a
species that had been presumed lost and possible a
couple of new species. I won’t bore you with a long
list, but it is there.
If you are participating in these efforts you would
discover that seeds and plants often find there way to
interested members as our work unfolds. Unfortunately
we do not have enough people and funds to tackle all
the projects that present themselves. Many people
today act as parasites taking all the freebies off the
internet but not joining and sustaining the underlying
structure that makes it all possible. It is ironic
that we live in a time where so much is possible but
less can be accomplished because of limited support.
It is not that AIS would not like to do more but that
it is struggling to do its best with what it has.
--- Karl Miller <larklabel@kcisp.net> wrote:
> Here is a dilemma for the current times. Plant
> species around the world are going extinct faster
> now than any other time since the ice age. The fact
> that this and other iris are going extinct should be
> a call to action to the AIS. Unfortunately many of
> these countries have greater problems than looking
> out for the survival of their endangered flora.
> While this plant is not an American problem, the AIS
> is essentially the World iris society and should
> lead the charge to finding ways to collect seed and
> disseminate them to gardens/gardeners around the
> world and get some reserve stock established. Even
> if it does not get used in a hybridizing program,
> the fact that the species would continue is totally
> worthwhile.
> There is a great American garden story related to
> this. In the late 1700's, William Bartram collect
> some seed from a tree in the Georgia/South Carolina
> area. It was later named the Franklinia tree. It has
> never been seen in the wild since. Every Franklinia
> alamaha in the world has come from that original
> seed collected more than 200 years ago.
> What can we as irisarians do to make this happen?
> Karl Miller
> Lark Label
> Custom Imaged, Solid Metal, Plant Labels
> 120 North Old Manor
> Wichita, KS 67208
> 316-682-5275
> larklabel@kcisp.net
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: wmcdougherty@cs.com
> To: sibrob@yahoogroups.com
> Sent: Wednesday, November 29, 2006 5:16 PM
> Subject: Re: [sibrob] I. sibirica ssp. erirrhiza
>
>
> Hello everyone;
>
> Because of its endangered status we may never see
> seed from "erirrhiza" But it would be interesting to
> see if it could add some climatic tolerance.
>
> Two items I dropped researching which have always
> intrigued me was I. phragmitetorum and I. sanguinea
> from China. C. Grey-Wilson wrote in the BIS Species
> Guide that it had been rediscovered (I.
> phragmitetorum) and that material should be
> available in the future. I wrote to the BIS Species
> chair (who knew nothing and referred me to Marty)
> and he gave me Grey-Wilson's e-mail address but I
> never heard anything.
>
>
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