Botswana November 2003: Collecting Albizia harveyi. A typical Millennium Seed Bank Project collecting team will have decades of combined fieldwork experience. This helps them find and make a wide range of quality seed collections each field season.

 

 

Seed collecting expeditions

Seed collecting from wild plant populations is normally a team activity. Seed collectors often need to travel to remote areas to reach natural vegetation in a suitable state for seed collecting. When away from base, the team usually has to be self sufficient and depends on the combined experience of its members to safely and accurately make high quality collections in tough conditions.

Collecting teams use a range of tools and guides to help locate target plants in fruit. However, they vary their itineraries depending on the prevailing weather conditions and the number of target species in fruit at the time of their visit. A typical trip will be made by four collectors representing two organisations, making an average of three seed collections per day while travelling widely across their collecting region in a 4WD vehicle. However, no two expeditions are identical, and there is no substitute for experienced collectors, thorough preparation and a flexible itinerary to ensure a successful seed collecting expedition.

Next: Finding the plants