USDA Forest Service Celebrating Wildflowers

 

Protecting Plant Genetic Resources

Choosing the Right Plant Materials

man looking at rows of blue wildrye in a nursery.
Common garden field plots of blue wildrye from northeastern Oregon and southeastern Washington (USA). Information from the study was used to develop the seed zones shown in the map to the right.

Consideration of the origin and genetic diversity of planting stock can be one of the most important decisions in a restoration project. For details, see:

A seed zone map for the area around Walla Walla, Washington; and Pendleton and Baker City, Oregon.
Seed zone map of blue wildrye (Elymus glaucus) in northeastern Oregon and southeastern Washington (USA). From "Landscape patterns of phenotypic variation and population structuring in a selfing grass, Elymus glaucus (blue wildrye)" (PDF, 532 KB)

Seed zones and plant movement guidelines are used to help determine which plant materials would be best adapted to the climate and environment of a particular planting site. Developing seed zones is a slow process, involving the measurement and analysis of plant traits over several years in a common garden study. Seed zones have been developed for many important forest tree species, but guidelines are generally lacking for other native species, especially grasses and forbs.

In the western regions of the Forest Service, where climates and environments tend to be extremely variable, research studies are underway to develop seed zones for a number of important restoration species, including mountain brome, bluebunch wheatgrass, prairie junegrass, Indian ricegrass, lupine, and others.

Three pictures: left plantings in a nursery, center two women posing in rows of plantings, and people owkring with plantings.

For additional information, see:

man kneeling on the ground among rows of flags and plants using a data recorder.
Collecting data from a blue wildrye common garden study in California.

In the absence of seed zones, other sources of information are often used as surrogates in making recommendations for areas where plants materials can be successfully planted. These include plant hardiness zone maps, climate maps, or ecoregion maps (areas of similar geographic, vegetative, hydrological, and climate characteristics).

Seed zone map of Native Plant Seed Zones of the Klamath Mountains Section, based on Ecological Subsections. Seed zone map of Native Plant Seed Zones of the Southern Cascades Section, based on Ecological Subsections
Provisional seed zones in California based on Bailey’s Ecoregions.

U.S. Forest Service
Rangeland Management
Botany Program
1400 Independence Ave., SW, Mailstop Code: 1103
Washington DC 20250-1103

USA.gov logo

Location: http://www.fs.fed.us/wildflowers/nativeplantmaterials/rightmaterials.shtml
Last modified: Tuesday, 24-Jun-2008 21:54:56 EDT