The Botanic Gardens Conservation International released “Orchids: 2017 Global Ex situ Collections Assessment”, aimed at promoting the ex-situ conservation of 59% of orchids species considered threatened in the wild.

The collection of living plants of UCONN’s Biodiversity Research Collection, is one of 37 institutions that provided detailed accessions data to this study.  In particular, given its diverse species holdings, our collection contributed to the depth of this report.  10% of the orchid species grown here at UConn are represented in 5 or fewer collections worldwide and a handful are only in cultivation here in Storrs at the present time.

 

The greenhouses are featured in the April issue of InkCT, Connecticut’s Art, Culture, Lifestyle Magazine. See the greenhouse’s Facebook post for all pages of the article.

Dr. Matt Opel co-authored a publication with A.J. Young, L. Pulido Suarez, & M. Kapralov entitled”Leaf epidermal structure in the dwarf succulent genus Conophytum N.E. Br. (Aizoaceae). The summary reads: The epidermal structure of 66 species and subspecies of the dwarf succulent genus Conophytum N.E. Br. was examined using scanning electron microscopy. Taxa within this genus possess a number of adaptations to their arid environment including sunken stomata, a prominent wax layer and trichomes. The range of epidermal morphologies present in this genus is described and the use of these to inform infrageneric classification in Conophytum is discussed. In many cases the epidermis of closely related species is similar but this is not always the case across the 16 sections that comprise the genus. Whilst this study confirms the assignment of several recently described taxa to existing sections it suggests that the infrageneric classification of Conophytum needs to be re-evaluated.

Young, A. J., L. Pulido Suarez, M. Kapralov, and M. R. Opel. 2017. Leaf epidermal structure in the dwarf succulent genus Conophytum NE Br.(Aizoaceae). Bradleya 35: 217–237. pdf