Extant Plant Databases
Fashion, World Wars, economic ups and downs, disease and simple old age have all been contributors to the decline of some of these collections and as a result historic varieties have already disappeared or are at risk now.
The Rhododendron, Camellia and Magnolia Group is a charity with conservation at the heart of its objectives and our work is dedicated to preserving our heritage of these three genera.
- gathering data into a meaningful list which identifies threatened varieties
- organising propagation of those threatened varieties
- collections in the wild are no longer possible so it is our duty to ensure what we have is preserved
- the hybrids our forebears raised over nearly two centuries represent an historic record which should be as complete as possible
Database of Extant Rhododendrons, Camellias and Magnolias
The first step towards realising our ambitions is to learn what is still in cultivation; only then can we know what we have lost. Luckily, we have excellent historic records to help us better understand the situation.
For the last eight years we have been assembling a list of extant plants of our three genera. Data is drawn from botanic and other major publicly accessible gardens, from the collections of our members as well as those from other societies, and from the general public who volunteer the information when they hear of our work. Checked carefully for naming against the international registers, we can determine rarity and assess the need for propagation to ensure a robust population is in existence.
This is a work in progress but the database currently records:
- 11,050 rhododendron hybrids, 6,845 camellias and 3,792 magnolias*
- 3,975 varieties of rhododendrons, 1,760 camellias and 770 magnolias
- 2,090 rhododendrons, 693 camellias and 299 magnolias are ‘one offs’ and require assessment**
*The rhododendron and camellia species lists are still being created and will appear in due course
** As more data enters the list, these statistics will be updated.
As well as identifying rarity, rhododendrons, camellias and magnolias ‘lost’ from the gardens where they were raised are being identified, propagated and returned.
Help us to expand this database by sending a list of the rhododendrons, camellias and magnolias you grow to conservation@rhodogroup-rhs.org
Conservation through identification
Maybe you have rhododendrons, camellias or magnolias in your garden you don’t know the name of and would like to. Maybe your garden contains plants of great age and there could be something rare or important growing there?
How can we help you?
Sadly, we aren’t able to come to your garden to identify what you are growing but if you send us high resolution photographs of flowers, leaves, bark and the whole plant, and tell us what size these features we will do our best to identify them for you and give you an idea of their importance. Please send to conservation@rhodogroup-rhs.org
