kids encyclopedia robot

Plant Collections Network facts for kids

Kids Encyclopedia Facts

The Plant Collections Network (PCN) is a special group of North American botanical gardens and arboreta. Think of it as a team that works together across the continent. Their main goal is to protect and save many different kinds of plants. They also help gardens manage their plant collections in the best way possible.

This program is run by the American Public Gardens Association from Kennett Square, Pennsylvania. They work with the USDA- Agricultural Research Service to make sure plants are safe for the future.

Why the Plant Collections Network is Important

The Plant Collections Network has a few key goals:

  • Tell people about the PCN: They want more people to know about the network and how important it is to have well-documented plant collections.
  • Set high standards: They help gardens learn the best ways to care for their plants and keep good records.
  • Grow diverse collections: They look at existing plant collections and find out what kinds of plants are missing. Then, they encourage gardens to collect those missing plants.

The network focuses on many types of plants, including trees, shrubs, and smaller plants. These can be native plants (from the area) or exotic plants (from other parts of the world). Each garden in the network tries to gather a full set of plants for a specific type of plant. They collect plants from different places where they naturally grow. This helps make sure the plants are unique in their species and genetic makeup.

By working together, these gardens can use their resources smartly. They also make their own collections stronger by sharing knowledge and plants with other gardens.

How Gardens Join the Network

Gardens that want to be part of the Plant Collections Network need to meet certain requirements:

  • They must be a member of the American Public Gardens Association.
  • They need a good system for managing their plants. This includes a database of plant records, special labels for each plant, and maps of their collections.
  • They must promise to take care of their plant collection for a very long time.
  • Their main leadership (like a board of directors) must agree to their participation.
  • Their current collection should already have at least half of the plants they plan to collect for that specific group.
  • They need a clear plan (called a collections policy) for how they will manage their plants.
  • There must be a special person (a curator) in charge of the collection.
  • Researchers, scientists, and plant breeders must be able to study and use the collection.

To join, a garden first sends in a written application for each collection they want to have recognized. Then, an expert from another garden visits the site. This expert checks everything and writes a report with recommendations.

Some Gardens in the Network

As of March 2016, many gardens and arboreta were part of the Plant Collections Network. Here are just a few examples of the amazing plants they are helping to protect:

See also

Kids robot.svg In Spanish: Consorcio de Colecciones de Plantas de América del Norte para niños

kids search engine
All content from Kiddle encyclopedia articles (including the article images and facts) can be freely used under Attribution-ShareAlike license, unless stated otherwise. Cite this article:
Plant Collections Network Facts for Kids. Kiddle Encyclopedia.