21 May 2012

Churchill Fellowship helps grow Australasia links at Botanics

The Curator of the University of Dundee Botanic Garden is set to travel to the other side of the world as work continues to build a little piece of Australasia in the city.

Alasdair Hood has been awarded a Travelling Fellowship from the Winston Churchill Memorial Trust which will take him to Australia, New Zealand and Tasmania later this year.

During his visit Alasdair will be looking at issues associated with the collection and cultivation of wild seeds and their conservation potential.

"We have been developing an Australasian area in the Garden in Dundee for the past few years but this is a fantastic opportunity to develop that and build more links with other well established institutions," said Alasdair.

"I will be looking at how the various gardens manage their own native plant areas and visiting conservation projects. One of particular interest is the Auckland Threatened Plants Project, which is looking at how to stop the loss of native plants in city areas."

Alasdair's trip will take place in October when he will be visiting the Dunedin and Auckland Botanic Gardens in New Zealand, before moving on to Australia and the Royal Melbourne Botanic Garden and then the Royal Tasmanian Botanic Garden.

"When in Tasmania I will be visiting a nursery that I've has been dealing with for wild collected seeds for our Australian area here in Dundee," said Alasdair. "The idea is to see the areas they have been collected from to ensure they are from genuinely wild areas. I will also be visiting various projects in the Grampian Mountains when back in Melbourne.

"Wild-collected seeds are important to botanic gardens as we need to be sure that the seeds truly represent a wild population, unaffected by artificial conditions of cultivation. As well as the significant benefit of obtaining these plants for research and conservation work, field-work offers the added value of observing plants growing wild, which invariably leads to better cultivation back in the garden."

The Botanic Garden is open all year round and offers something different for visitors throughout the seasons - Botanic Garden website.

For media enquiries contact:
Roddy Isles
Head, Press Office
University of Dundee
Nethergate, Dundee, DD1 4HN
TEL: 01382 384910
E-MAIL: r.isles@dundee.ac.uk
MOBILE: 07800 581902