High up in the Berkeley hills is the UC Berkeley botanical garden. There are gorgeous views across the bay to San Francisco, and the plantings look like a botanical wilderness.
I visited the garden to collect cycads for my research. They have an impressive collection of cycads largely due to a sting operation by the US Department of Wildlife and Fisheries. Poaching is a major problem for cycad conservation but thankfully these ones were intercepted.
The staff have been able to produce seeds from these confiscated cycads, and in doing so they are increasing the number of cycads in botanical collections. These seeds are from African Encephalartos and some are growing as seedlings on the left.
The garden is separated into regions, and the cycads of Australia are planted together alongside other native Australian plants.
They are also doing conservation work of Californian native plants. California is a biodiversity hotspot and is home to over 3,500 different species, of these 61% are endemic.
The plants below were rescued from a road project and are the among the last of their species.
The plants below were rescued from a road project and are the among the last of their species.
And these seemingly unimportant trays are critical to the survival of another native species. In the trays are seeds of an annual plant, and part of another conservation project at the UCBG.
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