A summer of plant collecting in Croatia and Kyrgyzstan

CUBG’s Curator, Professor Sam Brockington explains why expeditions such as these are important:

“Our Living Collection includes plants from over 141 countries, primarily from temperate regions of the world. Partnering with colleagues in Kyrgyzstan and Croatia is especially important for us as these countries have diverse landscapes and plants which are suited to the climate (or future climate) in Cambridge. Maintaining a diverse collection is essential to support global research, important for conservation purposes, enhances our learning courses and offers varied plantings for visitors.

These expeditions focus on collecting wild plant species, which are the most valuable provenance to support most types of scientific research as well as ex-situ conservation. We are aiming for 40% of our living collections to be of wild-collected provenance. Additionally, the teams gather precise information about the plant being collected and its locality, which is often vital and necessary for research.

The trips also expand our herbarium collections by prioritizing wild-collected, rare material, providing a permanent record to support research publications.”

Located on the coast of the Adriatic Sea in Central Europe, Croatia is ideal for collecting a range of wild plant material due to its varied natural habitats.

This expedition was organised by CUBG’s Andrea Topalovic Arthan, Senior Horticulturalist on Eastern Displays, who comes from Croatia. She was joined by Paul Aston, CUBG’s Team Leader, Horticultural Displays, and Assistant Glasshouse Horticulturist, Barbara Griffith. Together they collected plants from mountain, river and fenland habitats, as well as protected landscapes.

Paul shares: “We were particularly excited to explore the Velebit Mountain Range, one of the wildest areas in the Mediterranean. These mountains rise from the Adriatic coast, transitioning from Mediterranean coastal plants to heat-loving shrub communities on thin soils and finally to beech and fir forests, with mountain plants growing on exposed limestone cliffs.

We also explored rich grasslands, where we found large thistles, Juniper berries, and Carpinus orientalis in 38-degree heat. In Zumberak National Park, we encountered diverse habitats, including a fen at 700m with orchids and carnivorous Pinguicula alpina. A highlight was monitoring vegetation after watercourse changes and collecting Knautia drymeja, an endemic plant rarely collected that flowers in woodland margins.”

Another highlight for the team was seeing the plants growing in communities as Barbara explains: “One of the most amazing parts of the trip for me was seeing the plants in their natural habitat and growing in communities rather than as individuals, which is how we tend to see them in botanic gardens. It really was awe inspiring and very beautiful!”

For this expedition, CUBG partnered with colleagues from the University of Zagreb, who generously shared their knowledge and expertise with the team from Cambridge. Andrea conlcudes: “The trip was a resounding success, with over 90 collections made which included a wide range of material. We collected seeds of herbaceous perennials, shrubs and trees, most of which are new to our Collection. These will be a great addition to CUBG and will be showcased in different areas of the Garden in the years to come.”

This was CUBG’s third plant collecting trip to Kyrgyzstan in recent years. In May 2023, a scouting expedition took place to establish connections with Kyrgyz partners and potential plants for future collecting. This was followed by a seed collecting trip in August 2023, resulting in 215 seed collections shared with Gareev Botanical Garden and brought back to Cambridge to grow onsite, store in our seed bank and share with other botanic gardens.

On this latest expedition, the team – CUBG Assistant Curator, Margeaux Apple, Curation Assistant, Nadiia Rositska and Senior Horticulturist Simon Wallis – focussed on collecting spring bulbs and herbaceous flowering plants. In particular, they had their eyes peeled for certain species of tulip, foxtail lily and iris, and they found that the timing for many of these couldn’t have been better! They also left room to be opportunistic, collecting plants of conservation concern such as Pulsatilla kostyczewii and those with ornamental, educational or cultural value, like Ephedra equisetina.

In earlier expeditions, the team spent time in the western, central and eastern regions of Kyrgyzstan. During this expedition, they ventured to the far southwest reaches – specifically the Batken and Osh regions.

As with previous trips, CUBG partnered with the Kyrgyz National Academy of Sciences. On this expedition the CUBG team was also joined by staff members from Gareev Botanical Garden, Missouri Botanical Garden and Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.

CUBG Collections Coordinator, Margeaux explains: “Collaborations like this are an important part of the botanic garden community and plant conservation efforts. Having more gardens involved means these species will be more widely represented in botanic garden collections, allowing us to better understand, conserve and showcase Central Asian flora to a wide audience.”

Now the teams are back, work begins on cleaning, storing, sowing, growing and eventually planting out the collected material as the plants from these expeditions will become part of our own Collection here in the Garden.

Visitors can look forward to enjoying the fascinating new plants when they appear out in the Garden, knowing that they are part of wider projects to support the ex-situ conservation of these diverse, and in some cases endangered, species.