How we collect

The team bagging seeds of Tephrosia bracteolata.

Collecting high quality seed samples for long term conservation needs to be carried out carefully, and thorough preparation is essential. Seed collecting is only carried out with permission of the landowner and appropriate government authority.

Where communications are good and the flora is well known, such as in the UK, one or two day collecting trips can be effective. In more remote areas, joint collecting expeditions are organised with partner organisations, typically lasting for one to two weeks.

Once collectors have identified the target plant species in the field, they assess whether it will be possible to harvest sufficient high-quality seeds to represent the genetic diversity of the species at that location. They also collect comprehensive data, which is later provided to users of the seed collection, and they transport the collections carefully back to base where the seed and herbarium specimens can be conserved and studied.

Seed collectors may wish to download the Kew Seed Collecting Manual (pdf), which provides comprehensive advice. Similar information is available in the Spanish language Manual de recolección de semillas de plantas silvestres para conservación a largo plazo y restauración ecológica published by INIA, Chile.