People
Ramsay, Margaret M.
| Job Title | Manager, Micropropagation Unit |
|---|---|
| Department | Horticulture and Public Education |
| Section | Micropropagation Unit |
| Science Teams |
United Kingdom Large-Scale Syntheses Monocots III: Orchids Madagascar |
| Joined Kew | 1990 |
| Foreign Language(s) |
Qualifications & Appointments
BSc (Hons), Botany Imperial College, London, 1982
MSc, Biotechnology, Univ. Central Lancashire, 1988.
Orchid Specialist (ex situ conservation), Re-introduction Specialist & Bryophyte Specialist Groups, IUCN-SSC
Board, European Committee for Conservation of Bryophytes (ECCB).
Role
In vitro propagation and re-establishment of threatened plants.
Managing and advancing the work of the Micropropagation Unit, developing and applying in vitro techniques to endangered plants. Provision of training, capacity-building and technical advice, both on and off site. Development of plant tissue culture practicals for use in school curriculum. Research into the raising of threatened British orchids from seed and their re-introduction, in collaboration with the UK’s conservation agencies. The laboratory also carries out in vitro germination of a large range of tropical orchids, principally for Kew's living collections and provision of material for research projects, and is carrying out research on symbiotic techniques and cryopreservation. UK BAP Lead Partner contact for Cypripedium calceolus and Liparis loeselii.
Projects
Conservation and Monitoring of Meso-American Orchids
Ex Situ Conservation of Threatened UK Bryophytes
Madagascar Threatened Plants Project
Plant Diversity Challenge: the Official UK Response to the Global Strategy for Plant Conservation
Sainsbury Orchid Conservation: In Vitro Propagation and Re-Establishment of UK Terrestrial Orchids
Selected Publications 2001-2005
Sarasan, V., Ramsay, M.M. & Roberts, A.V. (2002). In vitro germination and induction of direct somatic embryogenesis in 'Bottle Palm' Hyophorbe lagenicaulis (L. Bailey) H.E. Moore, a critically endangered Mauritian palm. Plant Cell Reports 20:1107-1111.
Ramsay, M.M. & Dixon, K.W. (2003). Propagation Science, Recovery and Translocation of Terrestrial Orchids. In Dixon, K.W., Kell, S.P., Barrett, R.L., & Cribb, P.J. (eds) Orchid Conservation. Kota Kinabalu Sabah: Natural History Publications. 259-288.
Wood, J. & Ramsay, M.M. (2004). Plant Portraits: 482. Anacamptis laxiflora (Orchidaceae) Curtis’s Botanical Magazine 21(1): 26-33.
Seaton, P. & Ramsay, M.M (2005). Growing Orchids from Seed. Kew: Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. 96 pp.
Sarasan,V., Cripps, R., Ramsay, M.M., Atherton, C., McMichen, M., Prendergast, F.G., & Rowntree, J.K. (2006). Conservation in vitro of threatened plants-progress in the last decade. In Vitro Cell. Dev. Biol-Plant 42:206-214
Selected Publications pre-2001
Ramsay, M.M. & Stewart, J. (1998). Re-establishment of the lady’s slipper orchid (Cypripedium calceolus L.) in Britain. Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society 126: 173-181
Fay, M.F., Bunn, E. & Ramsay, M.M. (1999). In vitro propagation. In Bowes, B.G. (ed) A Colour Atlas of Plant Propagation. Manson Publishing Ltd. 97-107.
Ramsay M.M. (2000). Angiosperms and Dicotyledons. In Spier, R.E. (ed) The Encyclopedia of Cell Technology. New York: J Wiley and Sons Inc. 32-35, 651-655.