According to this very interesting paper which I came across recently, old seed is not necessarily a bad thing:

http://www.researchgate.net/publication ... acti_genus

I had a long look on the website and couldn't find any specific statements on the subject beyond some general comments, I did not read all of the PDFs but I believed I did look at the ones most likely to contain such statements. Thank you for looking, Graham. That's exactly the same as what I found...

Beautiful. Congratulations!

Sigh...

I am not seeking anyone's personal world views, but the BCSS policy on habitat plant collection. Anyone?

What I am actually interested in is (illegal) plant collecting from habitat, as listed by the IUCN. I suppose the BCSS has a very clear policy on this? The DKG has a very explicit statement on this topic: http://www.dkg.eu/cms/cs/index.pl?navid=Artenschutzbeauftragter_1038&sid=cxdxQOtaQ6PAwURtjM...

SSSIs are not legally protected. Yes, they are: "SNH designates SSSIs under the Nature Conservation (Scotland) Act 2004. SSSIs are protected by law. It is an offence for any person to intentionally or recklessly damage the protected natural features of an SSSI." (http://www.snh.gov.uk/pro...

Working as a horticulturist within Chester Zoo we do a lot of work with local conservation to try to restore some of the damage that has been done to our lands in the past. However as we all know prevention is better than cure so if a particular cactus only grows in ONE area and there are some that...

"I suppose it is simply an opinion as to what level you consider they are endangered?" I could start harping on about birds, something I know something about, but I won't! "We always want others to conserve their land, but never want the authorities telling us what we should do with o...

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Unless to expand a limited gene pool of plants in cultivation in order to ensure sustained conservation of the species, I can't see why any collector could deem it necessary to take, for instance, Turbinicarpus valdezianus plants from the wild nowadays. They are so easily raised from seed! I don't t...