sydney botanic gardens

[_e_]

this weekend... anyone else know about it/going???

[Benzito]

What?

I don't know anything about Sydney Botanic gardens.

I think there was a B. Caapi consortium meeting there to exchange plants at some point. I ain't heard mention of anything else.

Is something going down?

Actually, on the topic, I've never been there since high school. (long before I got into ethnobotany)

Do they have many plants of interest to us ethnobots?

[Blairis78]

I saw some brugmansia species flowering there the other week, but I dont know what type or if they are of any value???

[2b]

Don't know about Sydney , but Melbourne has a cool cactus collection , but the best thing IMO about the Melbourne botanic gardens is the Herberiam (feel free to correct my spelling )for a fee of $11.00 they will positvley identify any specimen you present.You can find the info at there web site I imagine.

[Benzito]

yeah, it's Herbarium.

I've heard of those.

Darcy said it is actually free, if you are just a residential customer. If it's commercial they charge you, but he gave me the impression they will identify the plant free!

So, Sydney botanic? What's happening? (back to the original question, sorry for hi-jacking)

[apothecary]

No idea.

If we're talking about psychoactive plants, I know there is a C. edulis tree there, and apparently (unconfirmed) some cacti too.

However, I wouldn't dream of stealing from that place. I might ask for a cutting, but never rip cacti or similar.

[Benzito]

 

quote:

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However, I wouldn't dream of stealing from that place. I might ask for a cutting, but never rip cacti or similar.

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I hope not! I wouldn't dream of stealing any plant from anywhere. Plants are not a commodity or a private possession.

They are a living entity of their own.

[reptyle]

is taking cuttings considered stealing then? if noone owns them? i would consider it more of a service to the species (of plant)...thats not to say i would like someone to come onto my property and take the tip off one of my cactus's and then say it was just a cutting and i didnt own it anyway.

isnt a botanic garden meant to be a preservation of genetics anyway, what would be better to futher this cause than a little public propagation, obviously you could always say what my paretns used to "if everyone did that there'd be nothing left"...but i dunno, i have a feeling that not everyone is gonna do it, at least thats been my sneaking suspicion since i was about 5.

bit of a pointless post. im sorry.

[Blairis78]

back to the original post though, whats supposed to be happening in the Sydney Gardens this weekend? The suspense is killing me

[planthelper]

14 ears ago i studied the narroleaved qat tree for 10 minutes, than took a single cutting,

and worked hard with it ever since, i gave this tree 100dreds of life so in my case it was good.

this cutting became famous as no 4 strain, no doubt it wanted to come with me i gave it life beyond it's dreams (the botanical garden stuff only probagated this plant by seed as far as i know)

rumousr have it ther is even a coca plant well hidden in the garden!!

but never touch the cacti and never take too many cuttings. put cutting right away in a cut open softdrink bottle which you cut open and filled with a il water, than put cut of top back on like a lid!!! often you can find self seeded plants underneath the mothers, look out for them.

aswell i must say i gave soe plants to botanical gardens, as goethe said you can never have too much life...

ahem, i know thats not what he said, he said death is the procedure to produce a lot of life...

[ 12. May 2005, 08:00: Message edited by: planthelper ]

[_e_]

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[ 12. May 2005, 15:06: Message edited by: min(E)rval ]

[Torsten]

public botanic gardens cannot trade with private collectors or businesses unless contracts securing the adherence of the Rio Convention are signed.

[reptyle]

how does trading with private collectors threaten biological diversity? wouldnt it increase diversity...if thts what you are talking about.

is it because that would mean that all collectors would have the same genetics as the gardens and hence smaller gene pool???

i would have thought that the garden gene pool would have grown if they traded with private collectors not the other way round.

[_e_]

Do you know what is the regulating authority for such things?

And how hard is it to secure such a contract?

i was pretty sure a friend i used to work with had an agreement regardng swapping orchids at a regional botanic gardens whilst he was volunteering their.

Maybe he has such a contract

[ 12. May 2005, 10:55: Message edited by: min(E)rval ]

[Rev]

I think its better if you just take the cuttings...

but do it as a group

i dont think the specimens could stand 50 hacks all taking a piece but if just a couple did who know what they are doing and commit to propagating for all then i think itl work

like planthelpers example.

sometimes 'doing the right thing' just isnt - due to red tape

[Torsten]

The Rio Convention guarantees the traditional and national owners of intellectual property and genetics that their resources aren't used by other nations/corporations without their approval and benefit. It was established to stop the industry in rich countries from bioprospecting in poor countries and making squillions while the poor countries get nothing.

The convention was established to avoid the other option, which was to not allow genetic resources to leave a country without proper approvals. Obviously such a limitation would severely restrict research and development.

The Rio Convention allows for genetic resources to be shared among scientific institutions for non-profit research. As soon as profit becomes a possibility it is the responsibility of the party supplying the geetic material to provide for fair profit sharing with the country of origin.

Obviously most plants in botanic gardens would not fall under the Rio restrictions, but as a safeguard all public gardens have a blanket ban on trading unless specific species are discussed and dealt with under contract.

[Torsten]

ah yeah, it's enforced under 'Environment Australia' I believe. Same as CITES and national biodiversity protection.

[reptyle]

interesting. makes good sense to me.

is it hard to get the garden to enter into the contract with you, if u r not making a profit, and neither are they, merely trading??

[_e_]

So ye all know... plants and books

or books and plants, its all good :D :cool:

[ 12. May 2005, 15:16: Message edited by: min(E)rval ]

[Torsten]

retyle - never tried it and don't know. I presume it won't be easy or quick. That's why we decided to make wandjina gardens a certified non-profit entity in the very near future. It means we can trade, but we will also need to adhere to the Rio convention. However we are setting our database up in a way that any plants protected under the convention will be flagged while all others will be accessible. I think this makes a lot more sense.

[_e_]

okay, so the gardens are having a book and plant sale over the next two weekends..

apparently their may be some interesting books on sale, and if ur into rare flowers and such i think they advertised a couple....

will be good to see plant heads.

maiden theatre this and next weekend, see these for map detail and the website for more details/contact numbers:

map1 map 2

peace

***E***

[ 14. May 2005, 13:45: Message edited by: min(E)rval ]