In early 2019 CUBG participated in an expedition to collect and document the poorly understood palm genus Brahea.
These charming palm species are adapted to a variety of environments from dark and humid understories, to open and arid lands.
Numerous species, most of them endemic to Mexico, have been described and are regularly used by local populations. But even though they are quite common, botanists have not managed to delimitate the species for many reasons, including that they often hybridise.
Our assistant curator, Dr Ángela Cano, together with palm specialists from the University of West Virginia and the Montgomery Botanical Centre (USA), is conducting a genomic and morphologic study to clarify the taxonomy of this genus. The trip to central and norther Mexico was also a great opportunity to bring seeds of these palms to the Garden, some of which will be hardy enough to grow outdoors.
