In September 2019, following an invitation from the Conservatoire et Jardin botaniques de la Ville de Genève, two CUBG plant hunters travelled to Switzerland, where they spent a week collecting plants in the dramatic landscapes of the Alps.
The trip took part in the Valais Canton, between 1300 and 2600 m, in a wide range of alpine habitats including low and high pastures, the treeline, plants at altitude on both acid and alkaline soils, and glacial moraines.
This trip allowed our staff to bring new alpine plants to our displays and to learn, from observations in the field and conversations with their colleagues, the best techniques to grow these very specialised plants.
Our Swiss colleagues take part on a similar trip every year to collect seeds from their mountains. But they not only do that to maintain their own collections. They mainly do it to contribute to Index Seminum, an international collaboration between botanic gardens, where each institution proposes a list of species they can provide for free to peer institutions. At CUBG we also contribute to Index Seminum with interesting species grown at our garden or collected from the wild.
